Billionaire's Alpine mystery: Missing German found alive in Moscow?

Karl-Erivan Haub, a wealthy German citizen who disappeared six years ago at the age of 58 during a solo ski trip in the Alps, might be in good health and living in Moscow with a young partner by his side, according to German prosecutors investigating the case.

The prosecutor's office in Cologne took action after receiving information from RTL journalists. Following Haub's disappearance in April 2018, the German broadcaster carried out its investigation.

As cited by the "New York Post", investigative reporter Liv von Boetticher claims to have obtained a photo showing Karl-Erivan Haub in Moscow, which was reportedly taken in 2021. This was the same year he was officially declared dead, against his wife's assertions that he was alive and had left her for another woman.

Haub had embarked on a solo journey to the Alps, taking his skis. When he failed to return to his hotel, his brothers reported his disappearance. The search for the man continued for six days, during which the mountains were still cloaked in snow.

Now, the prosecutor's office may charge one of Karl Erivan's brothers, Christian Haub. There's a possibility that he provided misleading information about his brother's death and falsely claimed he was unaware of his brother being alive.

According to the RTL journalist, Christian and the private detectives he hired was the ones who managed to obtain photos of the missing man via an Israeli-American firm that accessed Moscow's biometric surveillance system.

Reports of Haub being alive had previously surfaced in the international media. As of 2023, a "Stern" magazine report suggested that the individual in the photographs shared a 90% resemblance with the billionaire.

RTL's journalist argues that Christian Haub had already viewed the photos by May 2021, when he swore in the District Court in Cologne that there was no credible evidence of his brother's survival.

It seems Karl-Erivan Haub might have orchestrated his own disappearance. He was married with two adult children at the time he went missing. Shortly before his disappearance, he had been in contact with Veronica Ermilova, alleged to be associated with the Russian secret service FSB, and possibly his mistress, calling her 13 times.

The disappearance occurred just a month after his father's death, who left behind a fortune estimated at roughly £4.9 billion. According to the "New York Post", there is speculation that between 2010 and 2015, significant sums from Tengelmann, a German holding company that Christian took control of after his brother's disappearance, were transferred to Russia.

“We suspect that his Russian contacts or business dealings might have posed problems for Karl-Erivan in the West,” suggests the RTL investigative journalist. Believing Moscow to be a haven, he may have chosen to disappear there, possibly with his brother's knowledge and agreement.

Source: "New York Post"