Saturday, May 29, 2004

Update on Khodorkovsky

Okay, very old news by today's standards. But since I opened the subject when I first started this blog...

The politically charged criminal case against Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky, Russia's wealthiest man, opened today, and, if convicted, he could face a sentence of up to 10 years in jail.

...The case against Mr. Khodorkovsky, whose estimated worth is $15 billion, is widely viewed as one in which the Kremlin is making an example of him to other rich Russian businessmen. The apparent message: by interfering in politics, they could pay the price for what are perceived as their ill-gotten gains won during Russia's wild privatization era.
  NY Times article

And the official charges are fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion.

That'd be news, wouldn't it? A billionaire in the oil industry involved in shady operations.