Norilsk CEO freed from jail

Norilsk Nickel (NILSY-O, MNOD-L) CEO Mikhail Prokhorov was released by French police in early January after being held in jail for three days for his role in a suspected prostitution ring.

Prokhorov and four others were designated material witnesses in the investigation. That means no charges were laid but there is a slight chance some could be laid in the future.

A probe into the prostitution ring, conducted by French police during the previous six months, determined a pattern.

Investigators suspect Russian call girls, around age 20, were being brought to a resort in the French Alps through an Austrian travel agency. The women worked during the holidays and were paid in the form of expensive gifts from luxury boutiques.

Often described as Russia’s most eligible bachelor, 41-year-old Prokhorov was among 26 people arrested in the French ski resort of Courchevel, a spot where many wealthy Russians go to celebrate the Orthodox New Year.

Norilsk spokesperson Sergei Chernitsyn told the Bloomberg news agency the arrest was “absurd” and that Prokhorov was innocent.

“The heads of our company are law abiding citizens,” Chernitsyn said.

London’s The Guardian newspaper questioned Chernitsyn about Prokhorov’s reputation for being a playboy.

“Naturally he likes girls and treats them in a natural way. But this isn’t a pretext to accuse him of pimping,” he said.

Prokhorov, worth about US$7.6 billion, was ranked the world’s 89th richest man by Forbes magazine last year (see table). He holds 54.8% of Norilsk, the world’s largest nickel producer, and 51% of Polyus Gold (OPYGK-Q), Russia’s largest gold miner.

The World’s Top 20 Richest People in Mining and Lumber

Global Net Worth
Rank Name Citizenship Age ($bil) Residence
41 Vladimir Lisin Russia 49 10.7 Russia
89 Vladimir Potanin Russia 45 6.4 Russia
89 Mikhail Prokhorov Russia 41 6.4 Russia
125 Alexander Abramov Russia 47 4.9 Russia
134 Nicky Oppenheimer South Africa 60 4.6 South Africa
136 Iskander Makhmudov Russia 43 4.5 Russia
158 Eliodoro Matte & family Chile 60 4.1 Chile
173 Boris Ivanishvili Russia 50 3.9 France
185 Viktor Rashnikov Russia 57 3.6 Russia
245 Anil Agarwal India 52 2.8 United Kingdom
245 Alberto Bailleres Mexico 73 2.8 Mexico
258 Vladimir Kim Kazakhstan 45 2.7 Kazakhstan
278 Alisher Usmanov Russia 52 2.6 Russia
335 Alexander Frolov Russia 41 2.3 Russia
451 Vladimir Iorikh Russia 47 1.7 Russia
451 Igor Zyuzin Russia 45 1.7 Russia
512 Turgay Ciner Turkey 50 1.5 Turkey
606 Vasiliy Anisimov Russia 54 1.3 Russia
645 Robert Friedland U.S. 55 1.2 Hong Kong
746 Tiong Hiew King Malaysia 70 1.0 Malaysia

Source: Forbes.com

Print

Be the first to comment on "Norilsk CEO freed from jail"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*


By continuing to browse you agree to our use of cookies. To learn more, click more information

Dear user, please be aware that we use cookies to help users navigate our website content and to help us understand how we can improve the user experience. If you have ideas for how we can improve our services, we’d love to hear from you. Click here to email us. By continuing to browse you agree to our use of cookies. Please see our Privacy & Cookie Usage Policy to learn more.

Close