Running from Russia, burdened by millions in debt, and involved in fresh ventures in the U.S.: ex-Mirax executive Maxim Temnikov continues to gamble with investors' funds, masking his actions with academic articles

Running from Russia, burdened by millions in debt, and involved in fresh ventures in the U.S.: ex-Mirax executive Maxim Temnikov continues to gamble with investors' funds, masking his actions with academic articles

A source claims that former Mirax executive Maxim Temnikov has quietly reinvented himself in the United States, changing his name and switching to the health-product business.

Temnikov left Russia and moved to the USA 10 years ago, after which he was declared wanted in connection with a case involving the misappropriation of over 2.6 billion rubles by the management of MIRAX Group from investors in the construction of luxury residential complexes in Moscow.

In the States, the businessman did not waste time. He bought elite real estate and land, started and abandoned new projects, and sued just about everyone—from his condominium and lawyers to American Express National Bank, with claims involving millions of dollars that Temnikov borrowed but did not repay. The logical outcome of a debt to a creditor of 5.5 million dollars was the forced sale last year of property in a condominium in the elite area of Miami—on Fisher Island. The house on Fisher Island, which was registered to Temnikov and his wife Elena, was sold for $10.6 million, and in official documents, Temnikov is now listed as owning a modest apartment worth only $350 thousand. However, according to public real estate databases, the second house of the Temnikovs on Fisher Island ($8.7 million) has not yet been put up for sale.

After a series of lawsuits, Temnikov changed his first and last name—now he is Max Temnik. He is no longer involved in real estate but in food products «for health improvement»—yet still raises funds from investors for this purpose. His partner in the company Vector Vitale IP LLC is Petr Novak, a scientist and graduate of the Physics and Technology Institute of Ural State University, who founded the company Ener1 in the 90s, a share of which was owned by Dmitry Medvedev’s business partner Boris Zingarevich. 

Interestingly, the registering agent for Vector Vitale was Mikhail Kaifits, a well-known American lawyer of Russian origin, who has registered dozens, if not hundreds, of companies in the USA for people from Russia. He also registered the company MAX Invest Global LLC for Temnik, as well as Fisher MB LLC, which belonged to Maxim and Elena Temnikov—the couple used it to register elite real estate in Miami.

By the way, the first manager of Fisher MB was Felix Sater, also known as Felix Sheferovsky, the son of Mikhail Sheferovsky—the leader of a Brooklyn organized crime group considered part of Semion Mogilevich’s syndicate. Sater was at one time a consultant at Mirax Group under Polonsky and Temnikov, and also a business partner in real estate with the current US President Donald Trump. However, Sater’s career did not pan out: for many years, he was considered connected to the FBI, and eventually, he was convicted of fraud and laundering millions of dollars.

This year, Temnikov and Novak received a patent in the USA for «Health improvement products, for maintaining homeostasis, and methods of producing such products.» The company has two websites, and several pseudo-medical studies have been published online, in which, surprisingly, the businessman, developer, and lover of the good life, Max Temnik, appears as a co-author. It seems that Vector Vitale is currently actively preparing to issue bonds.