He is the founder and CEO of Baring Vostok, a Russian investment company.
Michael Calvey and five colleagues were arrested in Russia in February 2019, for allegedly defrauding Russian businessman Artem Avetisyan, who is an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Calvey maintains the charges are baseless, supported by a BBC investigation, and the real reason for the arrest was because Calvey was suing Avetisyan in a separate business dispute in London, and winning, so Avetisyan used his connections with Putin and the FSB to have Calvey arrested on trumped up charges.
If Calvey is convicted Avetisyan stands to gain 10s of millions, and Calvey faces 10 years in the notorious Matrosskaya Tishina, the same prison where Sergei Magnitsky died under mysterious circumstances.
The same judge who prosecuted Magnitsky is assigned to the Calvey case.