Mikhail Khodorkovsky?

1 ANSWERS

1. Brett
   

   Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky (Russian: ?????´? ????´????? ???????´?????; born June 26, 1963) is a Russian-Jewish and former Komsomol (Soviet youth) activist who became one of Russia's oligarchs. In 2004, Khodorkovsky was the wealthiest man in Russia, and was the 16th wealthiest man in the world, although much of his wealth evaporated because of the collapse in the value of his holding in the Russian petroleum company YUKOS.
   
   On October 25, 2003, Khodorkovsky was arrested at Novosibirsk airport by the Russian prosecutor general's office on charges of fraud. Shortly thereafter, on October 31, the government under Vladimir Putin froze shares of Yukos because of tax charges. The Russian Government took further actions against Yukos, leading to a collapse in the share price. It purported to sell a major asset of Yukos in December 2004.
   
   On May 31, 2005, Khodorkovsky was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to nine years in prison. The sentence was later reduced to 8 years. A wide variety of international journalists, politicians, and businessmen — both in Russia and internationally — consider this process to be largely political;in 2003, prior to his arrest, Khodorkovsky funded several Russian parties, including Yabloko, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, and even, allegedly, the pro-Kremlin United Russia.

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