A Russia-backed Corporation’s Bid for Forbes Media Should Concern Americans

Last month, reports surfaced that Forbes Media has been in “exclusive talks” to sell to a consortium of investors, including a foreign entity named SUN Group, a corporation with 58 years of experience working closely with Russia and that frequently flaunts its close ties to the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A review of public records and news reports reveals that India-based SUN Group’s principals, namely its Vice-Chairman Shiv Khemka, who lived in Russia for 22 years, have a personal relationship with Putin and a long history of facilitating Moscow’s agenda around the world. SUN Group’s connections to Putin and the Russian state are sprawling and include ties to sanctioned companies in Russia’s defense industry and banking sector.

While today’s business media landscape is increasingly global, Forbes - and its 55 million monthly visitors – certainly present an attractive takeover target for a foreign adversary, specifically because of the dominant market share it commands with critical U.S. audiences.

According to Google Analytics, Forbes ranks at the top in unique monthly visitors among key U.S. demographic groups, namely the Millennial and Generation X age groups. Besides Forbes’ reach and audience size, other sensitive personal data, including search terms related to the concerns Americans share about business, personal finance and politics, would provide the Russian state and its robust intelligence operations with valuable information and enhance its ability to influence U.S. opinion – or even elections. 

Given these analytics, it’s unsurprising that SUN Group wasn’t the first foreign entity that tried to acquire Forbes. Another investor group - Magnum Opus - failed earlier this year in its bid after it was revealed that some of its financing included money from the Chinese Investment Corporation (CIC), a Chinese sovereign wealth fund. Members of Congress, including four U.S. Senators, wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review. Ultimately, the bid collapsed under scrutiny.

A CFIUS review of SUN Group’s bid for Forbes is also warranted given the platform it could potentially provide Putin to shape U.S. opinion. A review could start with SUN Group’s ties to sanctioned Russian businesses, most notably Rostec, a state-owned defense firm.

According to Rostec’s 2014 annual report, Vice-Chairman Shiv Khemka was on the board of directors of Rostec State Corporation’s JSC Russian Helicopters subsidiary for at least four years. The company manufactures over 90% of the helicopters used by the Russian military, including at least four of the helicopter variants being used in Russia’s war against Ukraine. In fact, on March 24, 2022, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated JSC Russian Helicopters as “key enablers of the [Russian] invasion.”

Past reports have also revealed that the Khemkas were “key arbiters” in advising the Russian government on the export of approximately $1 billion worth of Russian military helicopters to India. India’s Business Standard reported on Shiv Khemka’s central role in the weapons deal and noted the Khemka family’s “close” relationship with Vladimir Putin.

Alarmingly, Shiv Khemka may also have ties to sanctioned Russian banks. In May 2014, just two months after the Russian invasion of Crimea, Shiv Khemka was invited to sit next to President Putin at an economic forum and spoke in praise of three sanctioned Russian banks, including Sberbank, VTB Bank and VEB Bank, presenting them as “solutions within the domestic context to continue with our financings.”

The Khemkas also have ties to Alfa-Bank, sanctioned by both the U.S. and the E.U. A long-time partner of the Khemka family, a director and signatory on 14 SUN Group affiliates and the beneficial owner of T-X Investments Limited, a Khemka-controlled entity, Andrew Baxter, was CFO and on the board of Alfa-Bank for 8 years. In addition to a CFIUS review of these facts, the U.S. should also investigate whether the Khemkas, SUN Group or its subsidiaries have violated sanctions laws given their close association with sanctioned Russian financial institutions.

Should a CFIUS review commence, an Executive Order signed by President Biden in September   has added additional national security parameters that CFIUS should consider in reviewing foreign transactions. One parameter in particular is the transaction’s risk to U.S. persons’ sensitive data and whether the “investor has, or the parties to whom the foreign investor has ties, have sought or have the ability to exploit such information” that could harm United States’ security interests.

The potential for Vladimir Putin to secure unobstructed access to the personal data of millions of Forbes readers and possess the ability to inundate millions of Americans with Russian propaganda could become an alarming reality should SUN Group’s proposed acquisition of Forbes proceed without review. At a minimum, the U.S. Government should initiate a CFIUS review of the deal. It should consider imposing severe sanctions on SUN Group and its principals for their direct associations with sanctioned Russian entities and also for their direct role in supporting and facilitating Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.

James  'Spider' Marks is a retired Major General in the U.S. Army and a CNN military and national security contributor.