Leonid Rozhetskin

Leonid Rozhetskin (born August 4, 1966, in Leningrad, Soviet Union; presumed dead) is a financier and lawyer who is missing under suspicious circumstances after disappearing from his villa in Jūrmala, Latvia on March 16, 2008.^[1][2]

Early life and education

Rozhetskin was born in 1966 to a Jewish family in Leningrad, Soviet Union; he and his mother Elvira emigrated to the United States in 1980,^[1] where he became a U.S. citizen. Rozhetskin was a "brilliant student", winning scholarships to Columbia University, where he graduated with distinction.^[1] In 1990, Rozhetskin graduated cum laude^{[citation needed]} from Harvard Law School.

Rozhetskin received a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from Harvard University,^{[citation needed]} for teaching Harvard and Radcliffe undergraduates during the 1989-90 academic year.

Legal career

Rozhetskin began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Stephen V. Wilson, a federal judge in Los Angeles, California; he then joined the law firm White & Case.^[1]

At the age of 26, Rozhetskin returned to Russia, first as a lawyer at White & Case’s Moscow office, and then as the head of his own law firm,^[1] representing clients such as the International Finance Corporation (a division of the World Bank), Credit Suisse, Morgan Grenfell and The Moscow Times.^{[citation needed]}

Career in investments, mining and media

Rozhetskin, "amassed his fortune in the mobile phone industry during Russia's privatisation of telecom companies."^[2] In 1995, Rozhetskin's focus shifted from the law to financial ventures. Rozhetskin was part of a group that founded Renaissance Capital, Russia’s first investment bank, in partnership with Boris Jordan, an American of Russian origin, and New Zealander Stephen Jennings.^[1]

In 1998, Rozhetskin left Renaissance Capital to co-found the independent venture capital firm LV Finance. With help from Leonid Reiman, LV Finance secured 25% of MegaFon at the time Reiman was Russia’s telecommunications minister.^[1] In 2003, Rozhetskin sold the MegaFon stake to Alfa.^[1]

From October 2001 until January 2005, Rozhetskin served as Executive Vice Chairman of Norilsk Nickel, Russia's largest mining company and the world's largest miner of nickel and palladium metals.^{[citation needed]} Rozhetskin is also a board member and founding shareholder of City A.M., London's first free daily business newspaper.

Rozhetskin founded a production company called L + E Productions with Eric Eisner, son of former Disney executive Michael Eisner. Through L +E Productions, Leonid is credited as a producer of Hamlet 2; he is also credited as an executive producer of the 2009 film Boogie Woogie.^[3]

Personal life

Rozhetskin married model Natalya Belova, who gave birth to their son in 2005.^[2] According to The Sunday Times (and other sources^[2]), Rozhetskin's friends suspected he lived a closeted life, prompted by what the newspaper called Russia's "machismo and deep-seated homophobia"; the "extraordinary lengths to [he went to] conceal his homosexuality included withholding the truth on the subject from his mother, who characterized claims of her son's homosexuality as a "smear campaign."^[1] Rozhetskin was last seen on the night of his disappearance by two men who were picked up at his Villa by a taxi that took them to a club called XXL, Riga's largest gay nightclub.^[1]

According to Russian press, Rozhetskin is currently living in California under the Federal Witness Protection Program.^[4] Many Western media sources assume he is dead.^[1][2][5]

According to preliminary DNA tests, a body found in a forest near Jūrmala is that of Rozhetskin.^[6]

As of June 2009, most of Rozhetskin's assets—estimated at "several hundred million dollars"—are in a trust controlled by an American lawyer in Geneva, who has full legal powers over how to manage Rozhetskin's assets until Rozhetskin is declared dead.^[1]

References