By Clare O’Connor, Forbes Staff
Thursday’s inquest into the death of Boris Berezovsky revealed that the exiled Russian oligarch was found by paramedics on his bathroom floor with a “ligature” around his neck “and a piece of similar material tied around the shower rail above him.” …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Mark Adomanis, Contributor Luke Harding has just written another “opinions differ on the shape of the earth” piece of stenography that pretends that the opinions of some of Boris Berezovsky‘s close “friends” are just as reliable and newsworthy as statements from the police. This tension is captured most perfectly when Harding writes: Thames Valley police has ruled out “third-party involvement at this stage”. But his family and some friends say they do not believe Berezovsky killed himself and suggest he may have been murdered. The authoritative statements of the Thames Valley police (who, if I recall correctly from my time spent living in Oxford, seem to be a pretty nice and reasonably competent group of people) ought to outweigh the baseless speculation of people who hang around a notorious thug and gangster like Boris Beresovsky. They are not equivalent in value and should not be treated as such. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
Police say Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky was found dead on his bathroom floor with his neck bound.
Investigators have not specified the nature of the ligature — a cord or other material used for binding — but say a similar piece was attached to a shower-rail above him.
Berezovsky, a one-time Kremlin powerbroker turned critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, lived in self-imposed exile in Britain. His body was found Saturday at his mansion in Ascot, 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of London.
Detective Insp. Mark Bissell of Thames Valley Police briefly summarized findings Thursday at the opening of a coroner’s inquest, which was then adjourned.
An autopsy found the cause of death was consistent with hanging and that there were no signs of a struggle.
By Clare O’Connor, Forbes Staff
The following is translated and reprinted in its entirety from Forbes-Russia. Reporter Ilya Zhegulev met with exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky on March 22. Berezovsky’s body was found a day later on the bathroom floor of his suburban London home. For full coverage, see the left-hand column. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Mark Adomanis, Contributor Luke Harding, former Russia correspondent for The Guardian, just produced an article which strongly suggests, but never outright states, that Boris Berezovsky was murdered by the Russian secret services. It’s a museum-quality specimen of “opinions differ on the shape of the earth” stenography. The article is a perfect encapsulation of everything that’s wrong with the big old newspapers: it’s is extremely long on innuendo and extremely short on relevant facts. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
A post-mortem examination found that self-exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky died by hanging, and there was nothing pointing to a violent struggle, British police said.
Thames Valley Police said Monday that further tests, including toxicology examinations, will be carried out. The force did not specify whether the 67-year-old businessman hanged himself.
Once one of Russia‘s richest men and a Kremlin powerbroker, Berezovsky fled to Britain in 2001 and claimed political asylum after a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He became a vocal critic of the Kremlin.
Berezovsky had survived several assassination attempts in Britain and Russia, including a car bomb in 1994 that killed his driver.
Berezovsky’s body was found by an employee on the bathroom floor at his upscale England home on Saturday. The employee called an ambulance after he forced open the bathroom door, which was locked from the inside. Police said the employee was the only person in the house when Berezovsky’s body was discovered. They have said there was no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in the death.
A forensic examination of Berezovsky’s home will continue for several days, police said Monday.
A mathematician-turned-Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky built up his wealth during Russia‘s chaotic privatization of state assets in the 1990s following the breakup of the Soviet Union. In return for backing Russian President Boris Yeltsin, he gained political clout and opportunities to buy state assets like oil and gas at knockdown prices.
Berezovsky helped build Putin’s power base but fell out of favor when the new president moved to curb the ambitions of the oligarchs. The tycoon was charged in Russia with fraud and embezzlement.
Berezovsky later associated himself with ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, another Kremlin critic. Litvinenko died after ingesting polonium in his tea at a London hotel in 2006.
In recent years, Berezovsky’s fortunes declined with numerous expensive court cases.
Last year, Berezovsky lost a huge legal battle against former business partner and fellow Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, which left him with legal bills of at least $53.3 million.
Berezovsky had said that Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea Football Club, cheated him out of his stakes in the oil group Sibneft, arguing that he blackmailed him into selling the stakes vastly beneath their true worth after he fell out of Putin’s favor.
But a judge threw out the case in August, ruling that Berezovsky was a dishonest and unreliable witness, and rejected Berezovsky’s claims that he was threatened by Putin and Alexander Voloshin, a Putin ally, to coerce him to sell his Sibneft stake.
In 2010 Berezovsky also took a hit with his divorce from Galina Besharova, paying a settlement estimated to be as high as 100 million pounds.
Russia‘s transition from a Kremlin-controlled economy to a free market free-for-all in the 1990s brought on a wave of contract killings as criminals, entrepreneurs and corrupt officials tried to muscle each other out of lucrative businesses. The death of 67-year-old Boris Berezovsky — who died from hanging at his home, according to initial post mortem examinations — has raised questions about the safety of oligarchs as opposition figures back in Russia have been making the United Kingdom their home.
Here are some other U.K. incidents involving figures from — or involved with — the former Soviet Union:
ALEXANDER LITVINENKO
Litvinenko, a former KGB agent turned fierce critic of the Kremlin, died after ingesting polonium in his tea at a London hotel in 2006. His family blames the Russian state for orchestrating his death, and British authorities have named former KGB officer and Russian lawmaker Andrei Lugovoi as their chief suspect. The Kremlin — and Lugovoi — deny being behind the poisoning, which drew headlines worldwide. Perhaps mindful of Litvinenko’s experience, British police called in a hazardous materials team to examine Berezovsky’s home. They later declared the property clear of hazardous materials.
BADRI PATARKATSISHVILI
Patarkatsishvili, an associate and confidant of Berezovsky’s, died in his mansion in southern England in February 2008. Police initially said his death appeared suspicious but authorities later ruled the 52-year-old billionaire had succumbed to heart failure. Patarkatsishvili was active in Georgian politics, retained a small army of bodyguards, and often said he feared he would be targeted in an assassination attempt.
ALEXANDER PEREPILICHNYY
Perepilichnyy was found dead outside his plush home in southern England in November 2012. He had been in possession of documents which allegedly blew the lid off a massive Russian tax fraud involving dirty money being funneled into Swiss bank accounts. Post-mortem examinations have so far failed to determine how the 44-year-old died. In a recent report, the BBC said he had had a checkup and was given a clean bill of health only months before his death.
STEPHEN CURTIS
Described by author Mark Hollingsworth as “the lawyer who knew too much,” Curtis died when his helicopter crashed in poor weather on its way to his 19th-century retreat in southern England in March 2004. Investigators ruled …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By The Huffington Post News Editors
LONDON — A post-mortem examination found that self-exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky died from hanging, and there was nothing pointing to a violent struggle, British police said Monday.
Thames Valley Police said that further tests, including toxicology examinations, will be carried out. The force did not specify whether the 67-year-old businessman hanged himself.
By Clare O’Connor, Forbes Staff
Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky‘s sudden death on Saturday has now been confirmed as a hanging, according to detectives investigating the case, putting to rest conspiracy theories suggesting he’d been murdered. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
British police say that a post-mortem examination has found that self-exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky‘s death was “consistent with hanging.”
Thames Valley Police did not specify Monday whether Berezovsky hanged himself, but said that a pathologist has found nothing to indicate a violent struggle.
The 67-year-old businessman — a one-time Kremlin powerbroker who later became a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin — was found dead at his home in England on Saturday.
Police say that further tests, including toxicology examinations, will be carried out and that it could take weeks for the results to be known.
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
How do you burn through billions?
The unexplained death of Boris Berezovsky, whose body was found Saturday inside his upscale English home, has refocused attention on the fantastic wealth racked up by Russia‘s ruthless oligarchs — and their propensity for spending it. Berezovsky, 67, had once been considered Russia‘s richest man — but by this January, a British judge was wondering whether the tycoon would be able to pay his debts.
To understand how one man could lose so much money, it helps to see how he made it in the first place.
___
FOUNDATIONS OF A FORTUNE
Berezovsky, a mathematician, made his fortune in the 1990s during the catastrophic privatization of the Soviet Union‘s state-run economy. That era was marked by hyperinflation, contract killings and rampant corruption. As Russia‘s GDP crumbled, oligarchs leveraged their ties to ruthless criminals and crooked officials to tear off huge chunks of the country’s assets for themselves, draining resources and stripping factories to build fabulous fortunes.
Berezovsky — whose interests ran from automobiles to airplanes to aluminum — was one of this dark period’s primary beneficiaries. He became a political operator in Russian President Boris Yeltsin‘s inner circle, trading on his connections to rack up assets estimated by Forbes to be worth roughly $3 billion in 1997.
“No man profited more from Russia‘s slide into the abyss,” wrote author Paul Klebnikov in a critical profile of Berezovsky entitled, “Godfather of the Kremlin.”
Eventually, the abyss began threatening Berezovsky as well.
The tycoon had been instrumental in orchestrating the accession of Yelstin’s successor, Vladimir Putin, but when the new leader and Berezovsky began to clash, his political cover disintegrated. Berezovsky then fled the country in 2000, eventually claiming political asylum in Britain.
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LIVING LARGE IN LONDON
How much money Berezovsky really had — and how much he was able to take with him from Moscow — remains shrouded in uncertainty. Rich Russians at the time routinely stashed their money in labyrinthine offshore trusts or held assets …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
By Clare O’Connor, Forbes Staff
As soon as news broke on Saturday of the sudden death of exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, the conspiracy theories predictably began to flood in, with not just the Twitter peanut gallery weighing in but the 67-year-old mogul’s friends and associates. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Richard Behar, Contributor Paul Klebnikov’s body was barely cold on July 9, 2004, when Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky whipped out his tongue from its holster and publicly called the 41-year-old editor of Forbes-Russia “a dishonest reporter.” It was an odious thing to say, not least because Paul’s family was only starting to digest the news that he’d been shot nine times from a semiautomatic pistol as he walked out of his Moscow office. He survived a ride in an ambulance that wasn’t equipped with functioning oxygen equipment, but apparently died in a “stuck” elevator at a Moscow hospital. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
British police say that experts in hazardous materials are searching a property after the death of Boris Berezovsky, the self-exiled Russian tycoon who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Police say a 67-year-old “believed to be” Berezovsky was found dead at the property in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London on Saturday. Thames Valley police say his death is being treated as “unexplained.”
They said Sunday they have set up a cordon and that officers are conducting the search “as a precaution” and there is no risk to neighbors. The BBC described the site as Berezovsky’s home.
In recent years, the one-time Kremlin powerbroker-turned-thorn in Putin’s side fended off legal attacks that often bore political undertones — and bit into his fortune.
British police said Saturday they have launched an investigation into the “unexplained death” of Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, who was found dead at his home in southeast England on Saturday.
“His death is currently being treated as unexplained and a full inquiry is under way. The area around the property has been cordoned off in order to allow the investigation to take place,” police said in a statement obtained by Reuters.
The statement did not directly identify the 67-year-old businessman, but Thames Valley police said they were investigating the death of a man of the same age at a property in Ascot, a town 25 miles west of London.
Boris Berezovsky, a self-exiled and outspoken oligarch, had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In recent years, the one-time Kremlin powerbroker-turned-thorn in Putin’s side fended off verbal and legal attacks in cases that often bore political undertones — and bit into his fortune.
Lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky told Russian state TV that his client — who had survived assassination attempts in the past — lately had been in “a horrible, terrible” emotional state.
“All he had was debts,” Dobrovinsky said. “He was practically destroyed. He was selling his paintings and other things.”
A mathematician-turned-Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia‘s chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In return for backing former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, he gained political clout and opportunities to buy state assets at knockdown prices, making a fortune in oil and automobiles.
He also played a key role in brokering the rise of Yeltsin’s successor, Vladimir Putin, in 2000. But Berezovsky later fell out of favor with Putin, and eventually sought political asylum in the U.K. in the early 2000s to evade fraud charges he contended were politically motivated.
Berezovsky was one of several so-called Russian “oligarchs” to butt heads with Putin.
After coming into power, the Russian president effectively made a pact: the oligarchs could keep their money if they didn’t challenge him politically. Those who refused often found themselves in dire circumstances. Some were imprisoned — like the former Yukos Oil chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky — while others, like Berezovsky, fled Russia.
The assets of these pariah businessmen, meanwhile, were acquired by state corporations or cooperative tycoons, often at bargain prices.
Over the years, Berezovsky accused Putin of leading Russia toward dictatorship and returning it to a Soviet-style system of state monopoly on the media.
In the U.K., Berezovsky allied himself with an array of other Kremlin critics. Among them was ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who fled Russia with Berezovsky’s help after accusing officials there of plotting to assassinate political opponents.
Litvinenko died on Nov. 26, 2006, after drinking tea laced with a lethal dose of the rare radioactive isotope polonium-210 in a London hotel. From his deathbed, Litvinenko accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his poisoning, and British police named former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi as the prime suspect.
Both Lugovoi and the Kremlin denied the accusations, with the former instead claiming that Berezovsky — whom Russia repeatedly …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
British police say Boris Berezovsky, a self-exiled former Russian oligarch who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been found dead in southeast England.
Thames Valley police say his death is being treated as unexplained.
Police would not directly identify Berezovsky, but when asked Saturday about him by name they read a statement saying they are investigating the death of a 67-year-old man at a property in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London
A mathematician-turned-Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia‘s chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990s.
After falling out with Putin, he sought political asylum in Britain in the early 2000s.
British police say Boris Berezovsky, a self-exiled former Russian oligarch who had a bitter falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been found dead in southeast England.
Thames Valley police say his death is being treated as unexplained.
Police would not directly identify Berezovsky, but when asked Saturday about him by name they read a statement saying they are investigating the death of a 67-year-old man at a property in Ascot, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of London.
A mathematician-turned-Mercedes dealer, Berezovsky amassed his wealth during Russia‘s chaotic privatization of state assets in the early 1990s.
After falling out with Putin, he sought political asylum in Britain in the early 2000s.
By Clare O’Connor, Forbes Staff
Russian oligarch-in-exile, Kremlin critic and former Forbes billionaire Boris Berezovsky has been found dead in his home in Surrey, England, according to an announcement by his son-in-law. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By John Johnson 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
