Court hearings for Oleg Tinkov, the founder and main shareholder of the TCS Group, will take place in London in February-April 2020 after the billionaire posted GBP20mn as bail.

Tinkov is charged with underreporting his income at the time when he gave up his US passport and the US Internal Revenue Service initiated the case as those that give up their citizenship have to pay an “exit tax” based on the net worth at the time, the bank announced.

As reported by bne IntelliNews, TCS operates Russia’s only pure online bank Tinkoff and its capitalisation top $5bn in London last month. The bank’s investment case is seen as solid, as it has transformed from credit card monoliner into an ecosystem of financial and lifestyle services.

Currently TCS is the only banking stock to have weathered the sell off at the end of February on the back of fears of a coronavirus pandemic to have made a small return YTD.

Tinkov has a 40% economic stake in TCS and is reportedly under scrutiny for potential tax issues, including false tax returns and under-reporting Tinkov’s 2013 income, when he gave up his passport.

Reportedly Tinkov paid GBP20mn in bail to avoid arrest and is fighting extradition to the US and also faces an airport ban.

“The lack of details on the potential tax issues provides a wide range of outcomes, including the potential forced sale of Tinkov’s shares,” BCS Global Markets commented on March 2, seeing this scenario, however, as only a minor negative.

TCS main shareholder is under scrutiny after the group most recently announced investing in the fintech project launched in Europe by two of its managers, the first international expansion of TCS, potentially competing with such fintech providers as Monzo, Revolut and N26.