Konstantin Kagalovsky

Konstantin Grigoryevich Kagalovsky (Russian: Константин Григорьевич Кагаловский; born 13 October 1957) is a Russian businessman. He is the former vice-president of the oil company Yukos and a key Yukos shareholder, former deputy chairman of Bank Menatep, and the former Russian representative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).^[1] Kagalovsky claims to be the owner of the Ukrainian TV channel TVi.^[2]

Biography

In 1980, he graduated from the Moscow Finance Institute with a PhD in economics. In the late 1980s, he was a member of a group of young free-market economists, and was a close associate of Anatoly Chubais, who has been both praised and criticised for his involvement in the mass privatization of state assets after the fall of the Soviet Union.^[3]

Between 1992 and 1994, he was Russia's representative to the IMF. In November 1994, he became the deputy chairman of Bank Menatep, and was a close associate of now jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his colleague, Platon Lebedev. In November 1995, Menatep took part in a mortgage auction, which resulted in its takeover of the oil company Yukos. From June 1998 to June 2002, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Yukos. In 1999 he became the vice-president of Yukos. In 1999, he, his wife Natasha Kagalovsky, an executive at the Bank of New York, and Bruce Rappaport, a major shareholder of Bank of New York^[4] were accused of money laundering,^[5] however they denied any wrongdoing, and charges were never filed.

In September 2003, he unsuccessfully ran for a position in the Duma under the party Yabloko,^[6] however Yabloko failed to overcome the five percent barrier which was required for parties to be considered. At the time, he was the second richest man to run for office in the Fourth Duma Session.^[7]

In September 2004, he headed a UK-based investor consortium that attempted to buy shares in Yukos from its former head Mikhail Khodorkovsky in order to pay off its debts. The ruling Maktoum family of Dubai, United Arab Emirates offered to pay US$10 billion to pay off Yukos' tax debts in exchange for controlling stock in the company. However, the Kremlin refused this proposal.^[8][9]

Today, he lives in exile in London.^[10] He and fellow Russian oligarch Vladimir Gusinsky^[11] launched a TV station TVi in Ukraine in 2008. They split due to a business dispute, and currently, Kagalovsky controls and continues to fund TVi on his own.^[12] On 24 April 2013 Oleksandr Altman was officially registered as TVi's owner but according to Kagalovsky the documents showing that he sold the station were forged.^[2]

He is known to be an associate of many Russian oligarchs, including Roman Abramovich, Eugene Shvidler, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and the late Boris Berezovsky.^[13][14]

Personal life

He lives in London and owns property in New York, Moscow, and on the French Riviera.^[15] He is married to ex-Bank of New York executive Natasha Kagalovsky, and they have one son named Philip.

References