Magomed Musaev

In 2016, Musaev helped land a $20 million seed investment in Austin Russell’s then-fledgling company Luminar, according to court documents. That early stake was now the company’s second-largest outside shareholder, public financial filings from April 2023 show. Musaev holds the license to publish Forbes Russia, one of the dozens of local language editions of Forbes magazine that are part of the overall media group, and has close connections to some of the individuals reported to be investors backing Russell's bid to buy Forbes Media Group, according to a former Musaev business partner, Pavel Cherkashin, as well as three additional people familiar with the deal. Musaev forged his career with the help of the connections of his father-in-law, a powerful former leader of Dagestan, a Russian republic, who was appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Musaev’s father-in-law until recently served as a special Russian envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Musaev had previously served in the Moscow city government, running a major exhibition center before becoming the senior city official for innovation. Musaev had entered the close circle of a powerful Kremlin-connected billionaire, Suleiman Kerimov, also from Dagestan, through his father-in-law.