He is accused in relations with organized crime and bribing of figure skating judges in the 2002 Winter Olympics.

In his early years, he was an amateur football player, playing for junior team of Pakhtakor in some seasons.

He became a citizen of Israel and was allegedly involved with international arms sales with the Western Group of Forces and an Arab country.

He was also reported to have relations with the Russian mafia, including ethnic Georgian mobster Tariel Oniani.

[6] He was arrested in Italy by US request, but the Italian court denounced the extradition bid and freed Tokhtakhounov.

For instance, a 2002 article in the Belgium daily La Libre Belgique[7] reported on interviews of Russian players following Tokhtakhounov's arrest in Italy: Yevgeny Kafelnikov defended his "friend", Marat Safin refused to discuss a topic that was "not his problem", while Anna Kournikova commented "I have heard of this man.

[13] According to ABC News,[14] he was caught up in an FBI investigation of "a sophisticated Russian organized crime money-laundering network that operated out of unit 63A in Trump Tower in New York."

"[15] The FBI investigation led to a federal grand jury indictment of more than 30 people, including Vadim Trincher, Molly Bloom, Helly Nahmad, and Tokhtakhounov, who escaped arrest and remains a fugitive from American justice.

[16] For his support of the illicit operation, Tokhtakhunov allegedly received more than $12 million by the Taiwanchik-Trincher Organization from December 2011 to February 2013.