A German billionaire, Karl-Erivan Haub, who vanished under mysterious circumstances in the Switzerland’s iconic Matterhorn peak six years ago is suspected to be living with a Russian mistress in Moscow, an investigation has claimed.
A retail tycoon, Karl-Erivan Haub, then 58, was training for a ski mountaineering race when he disappeared in April 2018 in Zermatt, Switzerland.
The billionaire businessman was last seen heading up the mountain in a lift one morning alone – something his trainer said was strange for a man who was typically very safety conscious and well-prepared – and never returned to his hotel.
Authorities launched a six-day search which saw five helicopters and teams of alpine rescuers canvas the area, but his body was never found.
A former managing director and part owner of German supermarket and retail giant Tengelmann Group, Haub was declared dead by a Cologne court three years later, leaving behind a wife, two children and a company of some 75,000 employees.
His younger brother Christian swore in a courtroom in 2021 that there was no indication the Alpinist, whose net worth was estimated at £5.2 billion, remained alive.
But now a major investigation led by German broadcaster RTL claims to have identified Haub in Moscow – and believes the tycoon is there with a much younger mistress named Veronika Ermilova.
His younger brother, Christian Haub, was named the sole CEO of Tengelmann after he disappeared.
According to the report, Haub was leading a secret double life with Ermilova, who is said to have connections to a Russian event management agency.
According to the investigation by RTL and media outlet Stern, Haub, who would now be aged 64, is alleged to have made 13 phone calls to Ermilova’s phone in the three days leading up to his disappearance in 2018.
The phone conversations were significant, with one lasting over an hour, which raised suspicions that he may have been planning to stage his own death with assistance from Moscow and Ermilova.
