Alisher Usmanov

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Alisher Burkhanovich Usmanov (born 9 September 1953, Namangan Province, Uzbek SSR, USSR) is a Russian billionaire of Uzbek origin. According to the 2007 edition of Forbes magazine, the oligarch is Russia's 18th richest man, with a fortune estimated at US$5.5 billion (£2.696bn), and the world's joint-142nd richest person.^[1] He has accrued his wealth from mining, lumber and investment.^[2] Usmanov is married ^[2] and is a graduate of Moscow's elite state university. He is the majority shareholder of Metalloinvest, a Russian industrial conglomerate, which he founded to manage Gazprom's metals interests.^[3] He is known in business circles as "the hard man of Russia".^[4] He spent six years in jail during the 1980s for crimes committed in the USSR.^[5] Usmanov was named in court documents filed in Denver, Colorado, by lawyers acting for the De Beers diamond corporation of “fraud” and “unjust enrichment” in a dispute over one of the world’s most lucrative diamond mines. As deputy chairman of the Arkhangel Diamond Corporation, he had, the court papers alleged, with others “engaged in fraud in order to deceive”.^[6]

Usmanov is a major shareholder in London's Arsenal Football Club^[7], following in the footsteps of fellow Russians Roman Abramovich, owner of rival Chelsea, and Aleksandr Gaydamak, owner of Portsmouth.^[8] In February 2008, his Metalloinvest also became sponsor of Dinamo Moscow, the Russian capital's football team once funded by the Soviet secret service. His Metalloinvest group's name replaced the Xerox Corporation's on its players' shirts as part of the $7 million deal. "For me, Dinamo is a first love," said Usmanov, the club's website reported longtime Arsenal fan Usmanov as saying.^[9] The ballet fan^[10] had sidestepped a conflict of interest with Arsenal, London's The Sun reported, 'as Usmanov does not have any shares in the Moscow club. But he is on the board.' ^[11]

Contents 1 Early life, education, criminal conviction and pardon 2 Business profile 3 Arsenal F.C. 4 Other activities 5 Legal action over criminal conviction and pardon 6 References

[edit] Early life, education, criminal conviction and pardon

Alisher Usmanov was born in 1953 in Chust, Uzbekistan. His father was a state prosecutor in the Soviet republic's captal, Tashkent. He studied International Law at the Moscow State Institute for International Relations from 1976.

Usmanov was arrested and imprisoned in 1980. The website centrasia.ru reports that he and a friend - the son of the deputy head of the Uzbek KGB - were convicted in August 1980 by the Military Tribunal of the Turkestan Military District for "complicity in an official's receiving bribes and extortion". The website said that the two had extorted 30,000 roubles from an army officer. Another Russian website kompromat.ru said he was sentenced on three charges, including extortion and rape. Both men's parents lost their jobs as a result of the convictions.

Usmanov received an 8 year labor camp sentence. He was freed early in 1986. He was rehabilitated by Uzbekistan's Supreme Court in July 2000. It ruled that the case had been "fabricated".

Usmanov married Irina Viner, an Olympic rhythmic gymnast coach in 1992. A photograph of Usmanov points also to an interest in sport. In 1997, he attended the Academy of Finance to study banking.^[12]

[edit] Business profile

Usmanov owns diverse interests including stakes in precious metals, iron ore, steel, natural gas and media companies.

Usmanov is the co-owner of Metalloinvest which he founded along with business partner Vasiliy Anisimov to manage his acquisitions in the metal industry.^[13] Metalloinvest owns a wide range of Russia metal and mining businesses including Mikhalovsky GOK, Moldavia Metal, Ural Steel, Ormeto-YUMZ, Olenegorsk iron-ore company, pig-iron company Tulachermet, the Oskol electro-metallurgical plants and the Lebedinski mining-processing combines.^[2] His combined holdings make him one of the top 10 steelmakers in Russia.^[14] He is chairman of Gazprominvestholdings, the investment holding subsidiary of Russia's state-owned gas company Gazprom, where his role is to manage what Gazprom calls its "most difficult and sensitive financial transactions."^[4][15]

Usmanov is the sole owner of Cyprus-registered Gallagher Holdings, described as a global conglomerate with main investments in mining and steel industry, technology, oil and gas, media and pharmaceuticals.^[16] Since 2006, Usmanov has also acquired stakes in Australia-based mining companies, Medusa, Mt Gibson and Aztec Resources through Gallagher Holdings.^[17] He is also the largest shareholder in London-listed Nautilus Minerals, which is prospecting undersea gold and copper deposits off Papua New Guinea.

In August 2006, Usmanov began to invest in media. On the encouragement of the Russian government, he bought Kommersant, a newspaper formerly owned by Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky who has fallen into disfavour with the Kremlin and is living in exile.^[2] The deal was finalised at US$200 million. Usmanov followed this with the US$25 million purchase of a 50% stake in Russian sports TV channel 7TV in November 2006 and bought 75% of Russian TV music channel MUZ-TV for US$300 in June 2007.^[18]

[edit] Arsenal F.C.

Usmanov moved into the football arena in August 2007 by acquiring a 14.58% stake in the English team Arsenal Football Club. He and his business partner Farhad Moshiri bought the stake in the club owned by former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein for £75 million.^[19] David Dein was appointed as head of their investment vehicle Red and White Holdings, which became the largest shareholder in the club outside of members of the board of directors.

On 28 September 2007 it was announced that Red & White Holdings had increased its shareholding to 23%, making it the second largest shareholder in the club behind Danny Fiszman on 24%.^[20] As of February 15th 2008 he has increased it further to over 24 per cent, giving him a stake just short of Arsenal non-executive director and major shareholder Danny Fizman's 24.11 per cent.^[21] However there was speculation that Usmanov might already be the club's largest shareholder at 24.2%.^[22] On 28 February 2008, Usmanov's investment vehicle, Red and White holdings, confirmed that it was the club's largest shareholder and the company said Red and White has the necessary funding to increase its stake further [but] it has no current intention to make' a full takeover bid for Arsenal 'for six months'.^[23] If the stake were to reach 30%, Red and White Holdings would have to launch a formal takeover. Usmanov said he had been an Arsenal fan for seven years and he had a great love for Arsenal.

Usmanov's interest precipitated a 'lock-down' agreement by the Gunners' board, whereby Chairman Peter Hill-Wood announced that club directors could sell their stakes only to 'permitted persons' before April 2009 and had to give fellow board members 'first option' on shares until October 2012.^[24] However, there was a termination clause in the agreement in October 2010.^[25] "The lockdown...makes us bullet-proof," said Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman.^[26]

[edit] Other activities

On 17 September 2007, Usmanov paid more than £20 million for an art collection owned by the late Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, days before it was to be auctioned by Sotheby's in London. He intended to give all of the artwork to the Russian state.^[27] However there are reports that Usmanov has no intention of giving the collection to the state, and is instead keeping the collection for himself.^[28]

He now owns the Sutton Place estate, near Guildford, a Tudor mansion in extensive grounds, once owned by J. Paul Getty.

[edit] Legal action over criminal conviction and pardon

On 2 September 2007, Craig Murray, the former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and self-proclaimed dissident, referred to Alisher Usmanov's conviction for various crimes – of fraud, corruption and theft of state property – in the former USSR, for which he had been jailed for six years during the 1980s, as well as making further allegations of criminal activity.^[5] Usmanov's lawyers claim he was a political prisoner pardoned after Mikhail Gorbachev became president,^[5] though Murray claims the pardon was actually the work of Uzbekistan President Islom Karimov on the instructions of Uzbekistani power broker and alleged drug trafficker Gafur Rakhimov. ^[29], and The Sunday Times states that his pardon came from the Uzbekistan Supreme Court.^[30]. 'He was in no sense a political prisoner, but a gangster and racketeer who rightly did six years in jail,' wrote Murray.^[31] The article was subsequently removed by Murray's web host under pressure from Usmanov's legal team, London's Schillings law firm - defamation specialists who have acted for celebrities, including BP's Lord Browne, Congolese president's son Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso, actor Keira Knightley, UK TV personality Jonathan Ross and models Caprice Bourret and Naomi Campbell.^[31]

Schillings also contacted independent Arsenal blogs and websites warning them to remove any references to Murray's allegations, and any reproduction of the blog posting.^[5] The move to remove Murray's posting led to other blogs reproducing the article. On 20 September 2007, Bloggerheads.com, the weblog of Tim Ireland, was taken down for reproducing Murray's article. The removal of the host server also caused the loss of other blogs belonging to the MP Boris Johnson, councillor Bob Piper and Clive Summerfield – none of which themselves had reproduced the article.^[32] However, this move by Usmanov to suppress discussion of his past has only served to unify various blogs against him.^[32] On 25 September 2007 Summerfield and Piper were interviewed on BBC Radio 5 Live about the controversy. ^[33]

UK Indymedia reported that they were one of the sites that had been issued with a take down notice on the 10 September 2007 and again on 21 September ^[34]. Although the article in question has been temporarily hidden, a number of others have been prominently linked to.

[edit] References