According to a US lawsuit, a Russian billionaire under investigation in Switzerland assisted in the financing of Tom Cruise’s blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick. Russian oligarch, billionaire businessman and investor Dmitry Rybolovlev is said to have had “functional control” over a production company that signed a $200 million deal with Hollywood behemoth Paramount Pictures in 2020 to fund up to a quarter of the budget of ten films.

According to a new report from The Los Angeles Times, the revelation came as part of a new lawsuit filed by Bradley Fischer, the former president of New Republic Pictures, who is suing his former company for breach of contract. In his lawsuit, Fischer claims that while he was negotiating a contract extension, New Republic withdrew their original proposal and attempted to renegotiate a new one, which was very unattractive.

He claims the second offer was made because the company’s de-facto CEO, fertilizer tycoon Dmitry Rybolovlev, 56, was in the process of withdrawing funding for New Republic in order to protect his assets in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The deal with the production company, New Republic Pictures, came at a time when the Hollywood behemoth was struggling with a drop in revenues and cinemas closing due to the pandemic. As movie theatres closed, wiping out a significant portion of Hollywood revenue, and studios scrambled to find alternatives that would allow them to release their films and recover their investments while looking for new financing options, New Republic signed a more than $200-million deal with Paramount Pictures to fund up to a quarter of the budgets on 10 films, including “Top Gun: Maverick,” in exchange for a cut of any profits or losses from the films.

The New Republic deal was a lifeline, mitigating Paramount’s risks while funding highly anticipated films like “Coming 2 America” and the “Mission: Impossible” sequels. However, the alleged financial ties of the Los Angeles production company to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are at the center of a legal dispute that has raised questions about New Republic’s funding.

Fischer filed a breach of contract lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court last Thursday, alleging that while he was negotiating a two-year contract extension, New Republic changed course and proposed new, less favorable deal terms.

The 180-degree turn, he claims, occurred when Rybolovlev withdrew his assets from the venture after Russia invaded Ukraine and Western governments-imposed sanctions on wealthy Russians. Fischer claims that he was fired without cause in June 2022 after refusing the new terms. He claims to be owed over $15 million.

The full extent of Rybolovlev’s financial involvement in the New Republic is unknown, as is its arrangement with Paramount. Parts of the lawsuit have been redacted. Fischer moved to have the complaint sealed, along with a fully redacted copy of the co-financing and distribution agreement with Paramount, citing a confidentiality clause.

Donald Trump sold a Palm Beach mansion to Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev for a record $95 million in 2008.

Trump boasted about the deal on CNBC’s Squawk Box on May 15, 2008, the day the Palm Beach Post revealed the property was under contract for $100 million. This prompted CNBC commentator to wonder whether Trump would require the Russian buyer to display an American flag, alluding to Trump’s previous squabbles with the city of Palm Beach over the size of the flag flown at Mar-a-Lago.

“I think what I’ll do is demand that he raise the American flag,” Trump said. “And the Russian flag can fly directly beneath it.”

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