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Russian Oligarch Secretly Bankrolled ‘Top Gun: Maverick’: Lawsuit

The billionaire’s alleged ties to a production company have been revealed in a breach-of-contract lawsuit.

Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev helped provide cash for a string of major Hollywood movies including Top Gun: Maverick, a lawsuit has alleged. The case—which was filed by New Republic Pictures’ former president and chief content officer Bradley Fischer for breach of contract—claims that Rybolovlev had “functional control” over New Republic, which signed a $200 million deal with Paramount Pictures in 2020 during the pandemic to fund up to 25 percent of the budget for 10 films. But after the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the lawsuit alleges, Rybolovlev moved his assets out of the venture as Western governments started imposing sanctions on Russian oligarchs. Mining magnate Rybolovlev, who has not been sanctioned, is known as a prominent art collector who had a lengthy legal battle against Yves Bouvier, a Swiss art dealer accused of defrauding wealthy clients.