Semion Mogilevich

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Mogilevich in 2001

Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich (June 30, 1946 in Kiev, Soviet Union, in Russian Семен Могилевич, also written as Semyon) is a notorious organized crime boss who is believed to control the largest Russian Mafia syndicate in the world. His business activities are alleged to include arms dealing, drug trafficking, prostitution and money laundering. He is nicknamed "The Brainy Don", because of his business abilities and because he holds a degree in Economics from the Lviv University.

Mogilevich was born into a middle-class Jewish family At the age of 22 he earned an advance degree in economics from the university in Lvov. In the early 1970s he became part of the Lyubertskaya crime group in Moscow and was involved in petty theft and fraud. He served two terms (3 and 4 years) for currency dealing offenses.

During the 1980s scores of Russian Jews emigrated to Israel, on short notice and without ability to quickly transfer their possessions. Mogilevich offered to buy their properties, sell them on the markets and then send the money. Nothing was ever sent and the money were invested in black economy and crime.

In 1990, already a millionaire, Mogilevich moved to Israel, together with several top lieutenants. Here he invested into wide range of legal businesses and continued to operate world-wide network of prostitution, arm and drug smuggling through complex web of offshore companies. ^[1]

In 1991 Mogilevich married a Hungarian citizen and then moved to Hungary, obtaining Hungarian passport. At the moment he was citizen of Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Hungary. Living in a fortified villa outside Budapest he continued with investment in wide array of enterprises, including buying local armament factory "Army Co-Op" producing anti-aircraft guns. ^[2]

Mogilevich is also suspected in participation in large scale fraud where un-taxed heating oil was sold as highly taxed car fuel. Estimates are that up to one third of sold fuels went through this scheme, resulting in massive tax losses for countries of Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia). ^[3]

His criminal organisation became one of the largest and most feared in the world, employing private army of brutal killers. In 1993 Mogilevich joined forces with the Solntsevo crime syndicate (Solntsevskaya bratva), one of Moscow’s dominant crime families to trade with art and antiques stolen from churches and museums in Central and Eastern Europe.

A 1995 meeting between Mogilevich and Solntsevo group in Prague, Czech Republic, in restaurant "U Holubů" owned by Mogilevich, was raided by police. Two hundred people (including dozens of prostitutes) were detained, thirty expelled from the country. ^[4] It was rumored that the Solntsevo group intended to execute Mogilevich at the meeting. ^[5]

In 1994 Mogilevich group obtained control over Inkombank, one of the largest private banks in Russia. ^[6], in a secret deal with bank chairman Vladimir Vinogradov, getting direct access to the world financial system. Through the bank he obtained, in 1996, significant shared in Sukhoy, a large military aircraft manufacturer. The bank collapsed in 1998 under suspicions money funelling. ^[7]

In 1997 he allegedly financed selling three tons of stolen enriched uranium (the deal failed when Czech police detained some of its participants in Karlovy Vary, city known as holiday resort of Russian mobsters).

Until 1998 Inkombank and Bank Menatep participated in US$ 10 billion money laundering scheme through Bank of New York. ^[8] ^[9] ^[10] ^[11]

FBI put Mogilewich in 2003 on the "Wanted by the FBI List" for participation in scheme to defraud investors in Canadian company YBM Magnex International Inc.