The last few weeks have not been kind to Formula 1 driver Nikita Mazepin.
On March 5, the 23-year-old was fired from his Formula 1 team, Haas racing. He had been under contract with Haas for just one year and it was his first chance in F1.
Today his home was seized by Italian financial police.
Big deal though, right? What kind of home could a 23-year-old – whose career earnings haven't even cracked $1 million – possibly own?
Probably just a modest apartment in Rome or something, right?
Actually, as it turned out, Nikita owned an unfathomably amazing villa on the coast of the island of Sardinia. The villa's estimated value according to Italian financial police?
$115 million
Here's a photo of the villa from a drone video (which I'll include later in this article):
Why are such bad things happening to Nikita?
Unfortunately Nikita is the son of Dmitry Mazepin, a Russian billionaire oligarch.
In response to Russia's abhorrent invasion of Ukraine, both Dmitry and Nikita were sanctioned by the European Union. That means all of their European assets are targets for seizure. Hence today's villa seizure.
In the EU's sanctions pronouncement, Dmitry was described as "a member of the closest circle of Putin… [who] attended a meeting with the Russian President on February 24, the day Russia's invasion began to discuss the impact of the course of action in the wake of Western sanctions."
Dmitry Mazepin earned his $1.8 billion fortune as the owner of Uralchem, a fertilizer conglomerate.
Nikita Mazepin began racing internationally in 2011 after winning the Russian Karting championship. He eventually moved up from Karting to Formula 2000, then Formula 3, then Formula 2 and finally he made it to F1 in 2021 when he was signed by Haas.
(Photo by Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images)
By total coincidence at the exact same time of his signing, a Russian fertilizer company called Uralkali signed a deal to be Haas' title sponsor for all of the team's drivers. Guess who owns a major stake in Uralkali? Dmitry Mazepin.
Last June, F1 Champ Lewis Hamilton lamented the fact that the sport is being overrun by the sons of billionaires, prime example Nikita Mazepin.
The Villa
Below is a drone video that perfectly captures Nikita's villa that was just seized. Located in the Portisco area of Olbia, you get a prime vantage of the villa between the 1:50 and 2:55 marks.
As you can see, the 25-room villa is built into a gorgeous and sprawling peninsula with multiple acres of lush grass, several structures and what might be the most incredible pool in human history:
According to Italian financial police investigators the villa was purchased for an undisclosed amount in 2012 from an unnamed Italian media mogul.
The buyer was a company based in Cypress called Ferimod Investments. According to Italian financial police investigators, Nikita and Dmitry are the ultimate beneficiaries of Ferimod Investments.
This villa is one of the most-valuable assets seized by Italian authorities to date. In the last month Italy has seized $1 billion worth of assets owned by sanctioned Russians. The most-valuable asset seized so far is a $538 million yacht that formerly belonged to billionaire Andrey Melnichenko.
