Umar Kremlev is reportedly linked to Donald Trump Jr’s Bahamas wedding and has longstanding connections to Russia’s political elite.
Kremlev became head of the IBA after rising through Russian boxing, while the IOC withdrew recognition from the organisation in 2023.
His Russian business interests include betting companies and Rolf, the country’s largest car dealership group.
Reports that Kremlev helped pay for Donald Trump Jr’s wedding in the Bahamas have drawn attention to a businessman whose career has taken him from boxing and criminal convictions to Russia’s political, sporting and business circles.
Kremlev has built much of his profile through boxing, gambling and corporate acquisitions while developing relationships with figures close to President Vladimir Putin. According to The Guardian, Kremlev was part of a business delegation that travelled to China with Putin before he went on to the Bahamas, where reports have linked him to the financing of Trump Jr’s wedding.
Kremlev’s rise has also involved a change of identity, connections to Russia’s security establishment and a growing role in industries ranging from betting to car dealerships.
A new identity and an early criminal record
Born in 1982 in Serpukhov, an industrial town about 60 miles south of Moscow, Kremlev has said he boxed until he was 19. He did not become a professional boxer and later blamed what he described as a lack of discipline.
His early years also included criminal convictions. He was convicted of extortion in 2004 and assault in 2007.
By the middle of the 2010s, however, he had emerged as a little-known boxing promoter. His organisation, Patriot, included former American world champion Roy Jones Jr among its fighters. Jones was later granted Russian citizenship.
Kremlev had also changed his surname by then. Born Lutfulloyev, he adopted the surname Kremlev, which bears an obvious resemblance to the Kremlin and further distanced him from his earlier identity and criminal record.
According to The Guardian, this period also marked the beginning of Kremlev’s movement into circles with close connections to Putin.
Building connections around the Kremlin
One route into those circles came through the Night Wolves, an ultranationalist Russian biker club whose leaders have maintained close relationships with the Kremlin.
Kremlev attended gatherings organised by the group, and at one such meeting he met Alexei Rubezhny, a powerful major general in Russia’s federal protective service, which is responsible for protecting senior officials.
Rubezhny subsequently became one of Kremlev’s key patrons. The Russian investigative outlet Proekt reported that he helped Kremlev gain access to senior government officials and lobby his interests within the Russian government.
Their relationship was not limited to politics or business. Proekt reported that Kremlev is married to Rubezhny’s sister.
Those connections coincided with Kremlev’s growing position in Russian boxing. In 2017, he became secretary general of the Russian Boxing Federation.
The federation became increasingly connected to members of Russia’s political and business elite during his tenure. Rubezhny headed its supervisory board, while Igor Sechin, chief executive of state oil company Rosneft and one of Putin’s longest-serving allies, has also served on the board.
Taking control of international boxing
Kremlev’s influence in the sport expanded beyond Russia in 2020, when he was elected president of AIBA, the international governing body for amateur boxing. The organisation was later renamed the International Boxing Association, or IBA.
His tenure proved deeply controversial. In 2023, the International Olympic Committee withdrew recognition from the IBA after years of concerns over its governance, finances and refereeing, an unprecedented move against an international sports federation.
Kremlev responded by intensifying his criticism of Olympic officials. He described former boxing administrator CK Wu as a criminal who “should be shot” and accused senior IOC figures, including then-president Thomas Bach, of trying to destroy boxing.
He has since continued organising IBA tournaments in countries where national federations remain loyal to the organisation. Kremlev has also promised financial support and the construction of boxing centres.
Under his leadership, the IBA reinstated Russian and Belarusian boxers under their national flags and anthems. Kremlev has repeatedly criticised restrictions imposed on Russian athletes and opposed bans on their participation.
Expansion into betting and Russian business
Kremlev’s influence has extended beyond sport.
Two people familiar with his assets said he is believed to effectively control three of Russia’s largest betting companies. They also described him as one of the main beneficiaries of a state-led overhaul of the country’s gambling market.
His business interests expanded further in 2024, when he acquired Rolf, Russia’s largest car dealership group. The company had been nationalised and seized from its founder, Sergei Petrov, a Kremlin critic who had left Russia.
The acquisition came as Kremlev’s influence in Russia continued to grow.
The Guardian reported that Kremlev joined the business delegation that travelled to China with Putin. He then travelled onwards to the Bahamas.
It was in this context that reports emerged that Kremlev had helped pay for Donald Trump Jr’s wedding in the Bahamas.
A businessman who openly credits Putin
Umar Kremlev has publicly expressed loyalty to Putin and has credited the Russian president with creating opportunities for people to make money and advance their interests.
In a video interview in 2024, Kremlev said:
“Thanks to one person, today there are really all kinds of opportunities to earn money and to strive for more,” he said.
“That person, of course, is our president, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.”
