A German-American billionaire, Karl-Erivan Haub, who was declared legally dead in 2021 after vanishing near Switzerland’s Matterhorn peak in 2018, is reportedly alive and living in Moscow with a Russian mistress.
As reported by The Punch, this shocking revelation comes from an investigation conducted by German broadcaster RTL, which claims to have located Haub accompanied by a younger woman, Veronika Ermilova, who allegedly has ties to a Russian event management agency and possibly the Russian domestic intelligence service, the FSB.
Haub, the former managing director and part-owner of the Tengelmann Group, disappeared while training for a ski mountaineering race, sparking an intensive search that ultimately proved futile.
His disappearance left behind a wife, two children, and a company with approximately 75,000 employees.
His younger brother, Christian Haub, subsequently took over as sole CEO of Tengelmann.
Despite Christian Haub’s sworn statement in a Cologne district court that there was no reliable evidence of Karl-Erivan being alive, RTL journalist Liv von Boetticher has disclosed photos and details suggesting otherwise.
“To my knowledge, these photos were available to Christian Haub at the time when he gave a sworn statement to the Cologne district court in May 2021 that he had ‘no reliable evidence’ that his brother was still alive,” Boetticher said.
The investigation highlighted Haub’s alleged double life and close connection to Ermilova, noting he made 13 phone calls to her in the days just before his disappearance.
One of these calls lasted over an hour, raising suspicions about a premeditated plan to escape his life in the West due to potentially problematic business dealings with Russia.
“Our suspicion is that dealings with Russia or with Russian business partners could have got Karl-Erivan in trouble in the West,” Boetticher stated, suggesting a motive linked to his business activities rather than a tragic accident.
Boetticher also speculated about Haub’s possible covert activities with Russian authorities.
“He could have been acting as a kind of influence agent for Russia in Germany… It’s not about an agent with a floppy hat and a trench coat or a James Bond, but about influence on politics and the economy,” she explained.
