The founder of the shopping complex «Three Whales» Sergei Zuev has died

MOSCOW, April 19. The founder of the Three Whales shopping complex, Sergei Zuev, died in a hospital in Moscow, Kommersant reported.
According to the publication, the 68-year-old businessman died on Thursday evening in the 31st city hospital named after academician Savelyeva. The cause of his death has not been named.
It is specified that a month ago Zuev went to the clinic for examination of the gastrointestinal tract. It revealed some problems, so doctors performed an operation on him, which was successful.

Zuev gained fame in the early 2000s when he founded one of the first furniture hypermarkets, “Three Whales”. In 2006, he was arrested as part of a case involving furniture smuggling from Italy. In 2010, the entrepreneur was sentenced to eight years in prison, but the following year he was released due to the decriminalization of the article on smuggling.

After his release, Zuev was sued for the return of assets that belonged to him. In 2020, he entered the building of one of the shopping centers and forced the head and employees of the company to leave their jobs. A charge of arbitrariness was brought against him and he was sentenced to two years of probation in a penal colony.