By John Helmer, Moscow Swiss bankers aren’t famous for their sense of humour. So it will come as no surprise that the Gnomes of Zurich were serious when they recently sent a questionnaire to 22 of the richest crooks and liars in Russia, asking them for their assessment of the prospects for Russian wealth management […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, September 19th, 2012
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By John Helmer,Moscow Russian government investigators are focusing on a tiny, little known Latvian bank through which Oleg Deripaska (front) has been holding and moving billions of dollars. The Latvian Trade Bank (LTB), as it was known for many years, has recently been renamed Expobank, after it was taken over by Igor Kim, who bought […]

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 13th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow That Boris Berezovsky (image upper right) is a self-delusional liar is no news, particularly not in Moscow. That Justice Dame Elizabeth Gloster (image lower right) should have made this point the crux of her August 31 judgement, dismissing Berezovsky’s claims against Roman Abramovich (lower left), should come as a surprise only […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Victor Vekselberg won a major UK High Court action on Friday, and the presiding judge, Justice Guy Newey, has ordered that he should get his money’s worth returned. No ruling of fraud was allowed. The amount may turn out to be less than Vekselberg has spent on lawyers and experts over […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 29th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow There is a unique protection in the Ontario Business Corporations Act which may have Alexei Mordashov’s name written all over it. It’s called the oppression remedy. What this does is to allow minority shareholders to go to court to challenge the votes and decisions of majority or control shareholders in a […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 29th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow It seems that this August Suleiman Kerimov will be holidaying with his Mother, as in Motherland. A recent yachting news bulletin from the port of Bergen, Norway, reports that Kerimov’s motor yacht is “docked next to Bryggen, in walking distance to most of the attractions in the center of Bergen. The […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 27th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Once upon a time, Oleg Deripaska was the protégé of Mikhail Chernoy (Michael Cherney). In that relationship, Cherney, the older, taller one, called Deripaska, the younger, shorter one, Zaichik (“hare”). When he grew up, Cherney made him his business partner. In the year 2000, the man who is today Deripaska’s principal […]

by John Helmer - Friday, July 27th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Iskander Makhmudov (right image) is cultured, charming, gracious, hospitable, polite, discreet – he has more of these qualities than his oligarch peers. But for Oleg Deripaska, his junior in the division of the Russian metals businesses that took place between 1995 and 2000, before the formation of Russian Aluminium (Rusal), here’s […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 17th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Look carefully at who is in the driving seat. The records of RTI Limited (formerly Rusal International Trading), the next to highest control entity in the corporate organization of United Company Rusal, show that it was registered on October 27, 2006, one day after the parent company was registered. At the […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, July 15th, 2012
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By John Helmer, Moscow Fifteen years ago, the American Journal of Psychiatry reported research that not all obsessive-compulsive disorders are alike. Two individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder, the scientific evidence showed, may have totally different and non-overlapping symptom patterns. For example, the obsession with counting, hoarding, arranging and collecting doesn’t usually accompany the compulsion for hand-washing, […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, July 10th, 2012
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