[12] On 28 February 2022, in reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union blacklisted Usmanov, imposing an EU-wide travel ban on him and freezing all his assets.

[42] Through USM and as an individual investor, Usmanov owned diverse interests including stakes in iron ore and steel, media, and internet companies.

[43] Unlike Russia's tycoons who won control of empires through loans-for-share privatization schemes of the 1990s, Usmanov built up Metalloinvest through a series of acquisitions in the secondary market.

[47] Usmanov is the second largest shareholder, after Dr Mohammed Al Bawani (MB Holding), in Toronto-listed (TSX) Nautilus Minerals (NUSMF), which planned to extract undersea gold and copper deposits off Papua New Guinea in 2019.

[49] In 2021, USM and Metalloinvest announced plans to construct one of the world's largest HBI eco-plants in Russia's Kursk region to supply greener products used to make steel amid a growing focus to clean up the industry.

[64] Through Mail.Ru Group Usmanov made notable investments in other international technology companies, including Groupon, Zynga, Airbnb, ZocDoc, Alibaba and 360buy.

[80] Red and White Holdings confirmed that it was the club's largest shareholder, and the company said it "has the necessary funding to increase its stake further [but] it has no current intention to make a full takeover bid for Arsenal for six months.

[109] On 2 September 2007, Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan referred to Usmanov's criminal conviction,[110] claiming that Usmanov "was in no sense a political prisoner, but a gangster and racketeer who rightly did six years in jail"[111] and his pardon was the work of Uzbekistan President Islam Karimov on the instructions of Uzbekistani power broker and alleged drug trafficker Gafur Rakhimov.

[114] The article was subsequently removed by Murray's web host, allegedly under pressure from Usmanov's legal team, London's Schillings law firm.

[117] Usmanov sacked the editor, Maxim Kovalsky, and the head of the publisher's holding company, Andrei Galiyev, saying there had been an "ethical breach" and that the issue "bordered on petty hooliganism".

Demyan Kudryavtsev, the head of the Kommersant publishing house, assumed responsibility by resigning, stating in a blog post that the magazine issue had been "in violation of internal procedures, professional journalistic standards and the Russian law".

"[118] Usmanov responded that emotionally, he could "understand the journalists speaking up for sacked top managers" but that "Kommersant Vlast is a respectable, independent, socio-political publication.

[119] Notwithstanding the imposition of sanctions on Alisher Usmanov by the U.S. Department of Treasury and, therefore, the fact that Kommersant is owned by the SDN, OFAC issued General License No.

[125] In 2018, US Senators Marco Rubio, Roger Wicker, Lindsey Graham, and Cory Gardner called on the Trump administration to sanction Usmanov over what they allege is his corruption and bribery of Russian government officials.

[127] On 28 February 2022, in reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union blacklisted Usmanov, imposing an EU-wide travel ban on him and freezing all his assets.

[129] Usmanov is named in the Official Journal of the European Union, the publication of record of the EU, as a "a leading businessperson with particularly close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In addition, the billionaire does not own any real estate in Germany; all the properties were transferred to irrevocable family trusts long before the imposition of sanctions.

[142][143][144][145] On October 26, 2023, the court considered the application of Usmanov's lawyers requesting to stop illegal retention of property seized during the searches and ordered to return it to its owners.

[151][152] In October 2023, the German “Central Office for Sanctions Enforcement" (ZfS) of Federal Customs Service searched several properties in the greater Munich area and on Lake Tegernsee.

[154] In June 2024, Usmanov filed suit against UBS Europe SE in Frankfurt over what his lawyers said were unsubstantiated reports that triggered an illegal criminal probe into his business dealings.

[156] In November 2024 the Prosecutor General's Office in Frankfurt am Main has dropped its investigation into Usmanov by a procedure which requires a payment of 4 million euros split between charities and the state.

[159] In December 2022, a Ukraine Court ordered the seizure of ₴ 2 billion (US$54 million) worth of Usmanov's assets, comprising 160,000 tonnes of Ukrainian iron ore.[160] Metalloinvest, in a statement published on 28 December, denied the information, saying that the Ukrainian authorities arrested iron ore raw materials produced by Metalloinvest's enterprises in Russia and intended for its buyers abroad.

[164] Usmanov owns the Grade I listed Tudor mansion Sutton Place set in 120 hectares (300 acres) in Surrey, which he bought for £10 million in 2004.

[165] In 2008, Usmanov bought Beechwood House, a Grade II listed Regency property in 4.5 ha (11 acres) of grounds in the London suburb of Highgate from the Qatari sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani for £48 million.

[170] It is reported to have cost $800 million, employ 84 full-time crew members, and contain the largest indoor swimming pool installed on a superyacht at 180 cubic metres.

[174] Some media reported that on 2 March 2022, German authorities seized Dilbar in Hamburg as part of sanctions against Usmanov stemming from the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

[175][176] On April 15, 2022, the yacht was frozen by Germany after investigations regarding its ownership revealed that Dilbar belonged to a trust, one of whose beneficiaries used to be Usmanov's sister, who was also sanctioned.

[177] According to the Index, Usmanov's net worth fell by nearly a quarter from February 22 to March 15, 2022, as the West imposed sanctions following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Later that same month he purchased the rights to a large collection of Soviet cartoons, which for fifteen years had been owned by Russian-born actor Oleg Vidov, who emigrated to the United States in 1985.

[192] On 4 December 2014, Usmanov paid $4.8m for Dr James Watson's Nobel Prize Medal in Physiology or Medicine, which was auctioned at Christie's in New York City.