Alexander Smolensky

Infobox Person
name = Alexander Pavlovich Smolensky
birth_date = birth date and age|1954|7|6
birth_place = Moscow, Russia (formerly U.S.S.R)
spouse = Smolenskaya (Marchenko) Galina Nikolayevna (b.1959, Djambul)
children = Nikolay (b. 1980)

Alexander Pavlovich Smolensky ( _ru. Алексáндр Пáвлович Смолéнский) (born July 6, 1954) and the founder and president of one of the largest private banks in Russia - "Bank Stolichny" (later known as SBS/AGRO) which collapsed in the "Russian financial crisis" of 1998 wiping out its investors' savings. When asked what he owed his investors he replied: "dead donkey ears". [David E. Hoffman. The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia, Public Affairs (2003) ISBN 1586482025] In 1999, Russian prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest including charges of embezzlement and money laundering. This warrant was later dropped. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=D2KDf0UBUsoC&pg=RA1-PA82&dq=%22Alexander+Smolensky%22&sig=xXv1Dv4JykJpUOztaqxFhUGUvJc Ian Jeffries. "The New Russia: A Handbook of Economic and Political Developments", Routledge: 2002. ISBN 0700716211] ] He currently controls the newspapers "Kommersant" and "Novaya Gazeta".

Mr. Smolensky began his business activities on the black market of the so-called "shadow economy". His private ventures included trading foreign currency, moonlighting on a second job in a bakery with a counterfeit permit as well as typesetting and printing Bibles using government presses and ink. [ [http://web.nps.navy.mil/~relooney/3040_c709.pdf "Render Unto Caesar: Putin and the Oligarchs" By Marshall I. Goldman] ] For these activities he was arrested by the KGB in 1981 and charged with economic crimes. Subsequently he was sentenced to two years of hard labor although he only served one day.

Smolensky's net worth in 2003 was 230 million USD. [ [http://www.forbes.com/finance/lists/75/2004/LIR.jhtml?passListId=75&passYear=2004&passListType=Person&uniqueId=KAO0&datatype=Person Forbes.com "The 100 Richest Russians, Alexander Smolensky"] ]

References

Books

*David E. Hoffman. "The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia", Public Affairs (2003) ISBN 1586482025