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Meghan and Harry's $14M Vancouver mansion linked to lawyer with Russian oligarch clients

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry spent two months in 2019 at the $14 million Vancouver mansion but refused to disclose the identity of their host

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's mansion, where they escaped after quitting royal life, is reportedly linked to a lawyer with Russian oligarch clients and a sanctioned former deputy prime minister. Meghan and Harry spent two months in 2019 at the $14 million Vancouver mansion but refused to disclose the identity of their host. 

The identity of the benefactor is back in the spotlight after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.  Documents uncovered by Daily Mail reveal that the mansion named Mille Fleurs was owned by JEMC Management Limited, a British Virgin Islands company operated by a UK lawyer whose clients include multiple Russian oligarchs and a former Russian deputy prime minister who was added to the US and UK sanctions lists last week. Neighbors told the news portal that the owner was a secretive Russian billionaire, who has so far failed to report his property to a British Columbia registry.

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Meghan and Harry reportedly spent their Christmas getaway with Archie at the waterfront property in 2019. Canadian music producer David Foster told Daily Mail that Meghan and Harry were in need of a discreet spot for their first Christmas holiday, and since he is friends with the mansion owner, he arranged for Meghan and Harry's Christmas stay.

Neighbors of the mansion claimed that the owner was Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. But a representative for Milner told Daily Mail that "neither Yuri Milner nor any family member nor any entity affiliated with him or his family" owned the property, though he had previously stayed there. Foster also insisted that Milner was not the owner of the mansion.

The lawyer's firm's service address points to Tulloch & Co. in Mayfair, Central London. It is the law firm of British attorney Alastair Tulloch. "Tulloch & Co.'s five-story townhouse office is the registered address for 40 UK companies and many more offshore firms in secretive tax havens, while Tulloch himself appears on the documents of 111 current and former UK firms, some of them owned by 28 Russian and Eastern European oligarchs and business tycoons," reports Dail Mail.

One of Tulloch's previous clients is Russian President Vladimir Putin's former right-hand man, Igor Shuvalov, who served as First Deputy Prime Minister from 2012 to 2018. Shuvalov was added to the State Department's sanctions list last week as a member of Putin's inner circle. Another one of Tulloch's clients is Andrey Vavilov, the former Russian deputy finance minister and secretary of state, who was accused of embezzling $231 million from state funds.

Tulloch & Co. told Dail Mail that they were "an easy target for misinformation" and that the UK attorney rules "do not allow us to comment on client affairs," but reassured that the firm was "fully compliant with all UK laws and regulations." The firm further said, "Press articles wrongly suggest that we act for the innermost circles of the Russian government elite; that this is incorrect is evident from the fact that Alastair Tulloch has himself been targeted by the Russian government."

"We are shocked and appalled by the invasion of the Ukraine; we deplore the use of violence and the violation of international law. Our deepest sympathies go out to all those whose lives have been so tragically impacted by these events, including our many clients and friends in the Ukraine," Tulloch & Co. concluded.