How do you burnthrough billions?
The death of BorisBerezovsky, whose body was found Saturday inside his upscale English home, hasrefocused attention on the fantastic wealth racked up by Russia's ruthlessoligarchs — and their propensity for spending it. Berezovsky, 67, had once beenconsidered Russia's richest man — but by this January, a British judge waswondering whether the tycoon would be able to pay his debts.
Police say post mortem examinationshave found that Berezovsky died from hanging. There was no violent struggle,and no evidence of anyone else being involved, they said. His lawyer said theoligarch had been in "a horrible, terrible" emotional state. Thetycoon had survived several assassination attempts, including a 1994 car bombin Moscow, and there was speculation as to whether his death was natural, partof a conspiracy or a suicide.
To understand how one mancould lose so much money, it helps to see how he made it in the first place.
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FOUNDATIONS OF A FORTUNE
Berezovsky, amathematician, made his fortune in the 1990s during the catastrophicprivatization of the Soviet Union's state-run economy. That era was marked byhyperinflation, contract killings and rampant corruption. As Russia's GDPcrumbled, oligarchs leveraged their ties to ruthless criminals and crookedofficials to tear off huge chunks of the country's assets for themselves,draining resources and stripping factories to build fabulous fortunes.
Berezovsky — whoseinterests ran from automobiles to airplanes to aluminum — was one of this darkperiod's primary beneficiaries. He became a political operator in RussianPresident Boris Yeltsin's inner circle, trading on his connections to rack upassets estimated by Forbes to be worth roughly $3 billion in 1997.
"No man profitedmore from Russia's slide into the abyss," author Paul Klebnikov wrote in acritical profile of Berezovsky titled "Godfather of the Kremlin."
Eventually, the abyssbegan threatening Berezovsky as well.
The tycoon had beeninstrumental in orchestrating the accession of Yeltsin's successor, VladimirPutin, but when the new leader and Berezovsky began to clash, his politicalcover disintegrated. Berezovsky then fled the country in 2000, eventually claimingpolitical asylum in Britain.
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LIVING LARGE IN LONDON
How much money Berezovskyreally had — and how much he was able to take with him from Moscow — remainsshrouded in uncertainty. Rich Russians at the time routinely stashed theirmoney in labyrinthine offshore trusts or held assets under the names ofassociates or family members. Many deals weren't even put into writing.
What's clear is that the1998 Russian financial crisis, coupled with Berezovsky's spectacular fall frompolitical grace, had a big impact on his bottom line. Forbes estimated hispost-Moscow fortune in the hundreds of millions. Rival oligarch RomanAbramovich testified in court that Berezovsky had been down to his last $1million when he fled Russia.
If Berezovsky werestrapped for cash, he didn't show it. He rode around London in a reinforcedMaybach limousine and was often seen huddled with business contacts in theexclusive hotels that line London's Hyde Park. His string of oversize mansionsin England, France and the Caribbean suggested he was a cut above the averagemillionaire.
Russian officials seemedto believe that Berezovsky had plenty of cash on hand, trying — with mixedsuccess — to claw back some of the exile's assets. Charges are still pendingagainst him in relation to the alleged embezzlement of some $13 million fromRussia's now-defunct SBS-Agro bank. Berezovsky had also previously beenconvicted in absentia of bilking hundreds of millions of rubles from theairline company Aeroflot and the carmaker AvtoVaz.
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THE BILLS PILE UP
Berezovsky oftenexpressed a fondness for Britain's legal system, despite his frequent andexpensive encounters with it. A search of British court records throws uproughly three dozen judgments — libel, fraud, divorce, breach of contract —involving the tycoon in some way.
Berezovsky sued a businessassociate over a fraudulent loan. Other business associates sued him over abotched oil deal. Berezovsky sued Forbes over an unflattering profile. He suedRussian television for suggesting he had a hand in the poisoning death ofex-Russian KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko. His second wife sued him for adivorce. His girlfriend sued him for a house he'd promised her. He sued thewife of his long-time partner, Badri Patarkatsishvili, in a complicated disputeover how to split the man's assets after his death.
The sums involved werestaggering. The loan deal was worth $5 million. His second divorce settlementin 2011 reportedly cost him 100 million pounds (about $154 million at thetime). Patarkatsishvili's assets could be worth hundreds of millions more. Thebiggest lawsuit of all, against Abramovich for breach of contract andblackmail, was for a mind-boggling $5.6 billion.
Berezovsky lost thelawsuit against Abramovich last year and the judge involved stopped just shortof calling him a liar. He was stuck with tens of millions of pounds in legalbills.
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A FORTUNE FALTERS
Whatever the extent ofBerezovsky's wealth, his expensive divorce, Patarkatsishvili's death and hispaper mountain of litigation left it much reduced.
In 2008, Berezovsky wasforced to sell the Darius, a 110-meter (360-foot) -long custom-built yacht thatmany believed was an attempt to compete with an even larger ship, the Eclipse,being built for Abramovich.
Earlier this month, theTimes of London reported that Berezovsky was downsizing his art collection,selling off his homes, firing staff and closing his office in London's upscaleMayfair district.
In a January ruling in adispute between Berezovsky and his ex-girlfriend Helena Gorbunova, High CourtJudge George Mann wrote that the oligarch's fortune appeared to have beenspread thin.
"On the evidence,Mr. Berezovsky is a man under financial pressure," he said.