Alexander Smolensky

Banker, Person

1954 –

46

Who is Alexander Smolensky?

Alexander Pavlovich Smolensky was the founder and president of one of the largest private banks in Russia - Bank Stolichny which collapsed in the 1998 Russian financial crisis wiping out its investors' savings. When asked what he owed his investors he replied: "dead donkey ears". In 1999, Russian prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest including charges of embezzlement and money laundering. This warrant was later dropped. He currently controls the newspapers Kommersant and Novaya Gazeta.

Smolensky began his business activities on the black market of the so-called "shadow economy". His private ventures included trading foreign currency, moonlighting on a second job in a bakery with a counterfeit permit as well as typesetting and printing Bibles using government presses and ink. For these activities he was arrested by the KGB in 1981 and charged with economic crimes. Subsequently he was sentenced to two years of hard labour although he only served one day.

Smolensky's net worth in 2003 was 230 million USD.

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Born
Jul 6, 1954
Moscow
Children
Ethnicity
  • Jewish people
Nationality
  • Russia
Profession

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

Citation

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