Oligarch Suleyman Kerimov’s money flowed into Luminar Technologies through a company called GVA Auto LLC, which was specially created to invest in Luminar. According to the most recently available documents, Definition Services, Inc., a British Virgin Islands-registered company connected to Kerimov, holds a 95% ownership interest in GVA Auto. But the exact ownership structure of Definition Services has long been shrouded in mystery. The Standard can now reveal how the company is connected to the family of Suleyman Kerimov.*
Definition’s ownership traces back to the Heritage Trust, a Delaware irrevocable trust that the U.S. Treasury placed under sanctions earlier this year. One of its beneficiaries is the HWE Sub-Trust.
According to internal documents and emails related to the trust’s management, HWE Sub-Trust’s Grantor is Kuncha Kerimova, Suleyman Kerimov’s mother. Its beneficiaries are listed as “grandchildren and more remote descendants of the Grantor, as well as spouses and parents of the Grantor’s descendants. Additionally, the Grantor has the power to direct distributions to or for the benefit of the Grantor’s descendants.”
