Alexander Mamut

Billionaire investor Alexander Mamut fled Russia shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine. Mamut, 63, currently divides his time between the United Kingdom and France. Trained lawyer made his fortune in banking. Gained notoriety during the Bank of New York money-laundering scandal at the end of the 1990s, when the Moscow State University graduate was known as "the Yeltsin family banker." (No charges were filed against him in connection with the case.) Considering sale of part of his 51% stake in mobile phone retail chain Evroset in a potential initial public offering in London this year. In January increased his stake in home entertainment retailer HMV Group to 6%; rumored to be planning an unsolicited bid for the retailer's bookshop chain Waterstone's. One of the founders of Imperial Bank, at one point ran MDM-Bank and was a major investor in Troika-Dialog investment bank and Ingosstrakh insurance company. In recent years has preferred the role of portfolio investor, putting money into real estate, retail, construction and oil fields. In 2007 bought U.S.-based blogging site LiveJournal.com, extremely popular among Russian users. Pet projects: cultural center Art-Strelka and art-house cinema theater Pioneer. Mamut is the former owner of tech and media group Rambler, which unites several media projects including the online news outlets Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru. He is rumored to have sold many of his other assets as he fled Russia, and is most likely no longer a billionaire.