Company of Russian owner of Brooklyn Nets searched in Moscow

FILE In this Monday, Jan. 11, 2016 file photo Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov speaks during an NBA basketball news conference in New York. Russia’s main domestic security agency said Friday, April 15, 2016, its agents have searched the offices of a company controlled by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of Brooklyn Nets. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) (The Associated Press)

FILE In this Friday, April 1, 2011 file photo then Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, walks with Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov to have a look at the new Russian-designed hybrid cars called "Yo" at the Gorki residence outside Moscow. Russia’s main domestic security agency said Friday April 15, 2016, its agents have searched the offices of a company controlled by billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of Brooklyn Nets. (Alexei Nikolsky/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

Russia's main domestic security agency has searched the offices of a company controlled by the billionaire owner of U.S. basketball team Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov.

The Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, said Friday the searches were part of a probe into alleged tax evasion. It added that the investigation is continuing.

Some Russian media have speculated that the searches could have been aimed at pressuring Prokhorov into surrendering control over his media assets. They include RBC, an online newspaper that has published reports of the Kremlin, including a detailed account of the so-called Panama Papers.

The searches on Thursday went on just as President Vladimir Putin held his annual call-in TV show. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov strongly denied any link between the searches and Prokhorov's media assets.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/company-of-russian-owner-of-brooklyn-nets-searched-in-moscow