Russian ‘mistress’, 44, breaks her silence over claims she is living in Moscow with 64-year-old US-German billionaire who vanished during hike on the Matterhorn
The ‘mistress’ at the center of the story of the German supermarket billionaire who disappeared on the Matterhorn has broken her silence.
According to reports, Karl-Erivan Haub faked his death six years ago when he hiked alone on the iconic Swiss peak, then went incognito to Moscow to be with his secret Russian mistress.
Authorities launched a six-day search that saw five helicopters and teams of alpine rescuers scour the area after his disappearance in April 2018, but his body was never found.
When he disappeared at the age of 58, he left behind a wife, two children and a company with some 75,000 employees as the former director and co-owner of the German supermarket and retail giant Tengelmann Group.
He was declared dead, but reports say he is living ‘with his mistress’ Veronika Ermilova, 44, in Moscow.
Haub is said to have called the phone of the mysterious Russian woman Veronika Ermilova, who is suspected of being a Russian agent, thirteen times in the three days before he disappeared.
Ermilova ran an ‘inconspicuous’ events agency in St. Petersburg with hobbies such as hiking, climbing and ski touring
German-American tycoon Karl-Erivan Haub, then 58, was training for a ski mountaineering race when he disappeared in April 2018
The billionaire businessman was seen going up the mountain alone in an elevator one morning — something his trainer said was strange for a man who was usually very safety-conscious and well-prepared — and never returned to his hotel
Veronika Ermilova, 44, is twenty years younger than Haub
Investigations revealed that Ermilova ran a “low-profile” events company that organized skiing, hiking and climbing excursions for outdoor enthusiasts. She is now listed on LinkedIn as Marketing Director at Russian Event, which is being styled as a travel experience company
Haub is said to have made a series of phone calls to the mysterious Ermilova shortly before meeting.
And the pair are said to have held secret meetings in various locations in the years before he disappeared.
There were also claims of possible shady business deals involving the pair, possibly linked to the Russian state.
One of Haub’s Russian business partners included the infamous self-proclaimed fraudster Sergey Grishin, known as the ‘Scarface Oligarch’.
Grishin made headlines in the UK and US after selling his $14.7 million home in Montecito, California, to none other than Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2020.
Following an investigation by German channel RTL, Russia’s pro-Kremlin media said Ermilova admitted she knew the German tycoon and that they had a business relationship.
But she says she hasn’t heard from him since he went hiking on the Matterhorn.
“No, I’m married, no one ran to me,” she said, according to REN TV.
“I only had a working relationship with him,” she said, according to Zvezda media.
“I don’t live with a German billionaire in Moscow, this is fake.”
Russian state media RT quoted Ermilova as saying: “There is no billionaire around me, I am married, I have a child.”
She claimed: ‘The company is owned by this person [Haub]they were our customers.
‘We learned in 2018 that he disappeared in the mountains. And someone in Germany is trying to say he was found in Moscow…
“This has not been confirmed at all. In Germany he was officially declared dead.’
She also denied receiving 13 phone calls from Haub before his disappearance.
Haub called Ermilova thirteen times before his disappearance, leading to suspicions that he planned to fake his death with help from Moscow
Veronika Ermilova is pictured at the Pacman bar, Saint Petersburg, in 2016
Haub was officially declared dead in 2021 with a net worth of £5.2 billion – even though his body was missing
German-American tycoon Karl-Erivan Haub was training for a ski mountaineering race when he disappeared in Zermatt, Switzerland, in April 2018
Ermilova said Haub was a client of the St. Petersburg events agency where she worked.
There were initially no further comments from her.
Investigations revealed that Ermilova ran a “low-profile” events company that organized skiing, hiking and climbing excursions for outdoor enthusiasts.
She is now listed on LinkedIn as Marketing Director at Russian Event, which is being styled as a travel experience company.
Yet there were also claims linking Ermilova to the FSB security service in Russia.
Investigators suggested she “may work for Russia’s domestic secret service FSB,” although they stressed this “cannot be proven.”
“What can be proven, however, is that she is always in the same places at the same time as Karl-Erivan Haub,” it was reported.
Today’s denials from Ermilova may only increase suspicions about Haub.
REN TV is an Uber-loyalist channel run by a company headed by Putin’s mistress Alina Kabaeva, 40.
Zvezda is the official TV channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense, and MK is a pro-Kremlin publication.