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Billionaire Jan Kulczyk, owner of superyacht Phoenix 2, dies at age 65

Billionaire Jan Kulczyk, owner of superyacht Phoenix 2 and Poland’s richest man, has died at age 65. Jan Kulczyk died in Vienna, Austria from complications during surgery.

According Forbes magazine, he tops the list of Poland’s richest people, with his wealth estimated to be $4 billion.

Jan Kulczyk owned the 90 metre Lürssen superyacht Phoenix 2 , launched in 2010, which is designed inside and out by Andrew Winch . Phoenix 2 features an art deco inspired interior and a unique bird-shaped bowsprit. The first Lürssen superyacht  Phoenix (now re-named Aurora ), launched in 2004, was also built for Jan Kulczyk. Though the 60.97 metre  Aurora  was also designed by Andrew Winch, she features a more traditional exterior profile and white hull and superstructure, making a striking contrast to the sleek, dark-hulled Phoenix 2 .

With capital from his father, Jan Kulczyk started his first business in 1981. He grew his first car dealership into a $3.9 billon holding investment firm that it is today.

Jan Kulczyk earned much of his wealth as Poland transitioned from Communist rule to privatisation, investing in a wide array of industries, from energy and telecommunications to brewing and oil and gas. A sometimes controversial figure in the country’s ever-increasing move to privatisation, Jan Kulczyk was questioned by a parliamentary committee in 2004 regarding his involvement at Poland’s biggest refinery, PKN Orlen, as documents showed he had a larger impact than just his five per cent investment in the company.

He is also a noted philanthropist, and one of his most major charitable donations in recent years include donating $5.5 million to build the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, though Jan Kulczyk was not Jewish himself.

Jan Kulczyk is survived by his two children, Dominika and Sebastian. Jan Kulczyk’s son, Sebastian, took over as CEO of Kulczyk Investments in 2014.

It’s reported that Jan Kulczyk split his time living between Warsaw, Luxembourg, London – and travelling and spending time on board his superyacht, Phoneix 2 .

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10 of the most impressive superyachts owned by billionaires

From a sailing yacht owned by a russian billionaire industrialist to the luxury launch of the patek philippe ceo, here are the best billionaire-owned boats on the water….

Words: Jonathan Wells

There’s something about billionaires and big boats . Whether they’re superyachts or megayachts, men with money love to splash out on these sizeable sea-going giants. And that all began in 1954 — with the big dreams of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.

Onassis, keen to keep his luxury lifestyle afloat when at sea, bought Canadian anti-submarine frigate HMCS Stormont after World War II. He spent millions turning it into an opulent super yacht, named it after his daughter — and the Christina O kicked off a trend among tycoons. To this day, the world’s richest men remain locked in an arms race to build the biggest, fastest, most impressive superyacht of all. Here are 10 of our favourites…

Eclipse, owned by Roman Abramovich

Built by: Blohm+Voss of Hamburg, with interiors and exteriors designed by Terence Disdale. Launched in 2009, it cost $500 million (the equivalent of £623 million today).

Owned by: Russian businessman Roman Abramovich, the owner of private investment company Millhouse LLC and owner of Chelsea Football Club. His current net worth is $17.4 billion.

Key features: 162.5 metres in length / 9 decks / Top speed of 22 knots / Two swimming pools / Disco hall / Mini submarine / 2 helicopter pads / 24 guest cabins

Sailing Yacht A, owned by Andrey Melnichenko

Built by: Nobiskrug, a shipyard on the Eider River in Germany. The original idea came from Jacques Garcia, with interiors designed by Philippe Starck and a reported price tag of over $400 million.

Owned by: Russian billionaire industrialist Andrey Melnichenko, the main beneficiary of both the fertiliser producing EuroChem Group and the coal energy company SUEK. Though his current net worth is $18.7 billion, Sailing Yacht A was seized in Trieste on 12 March 2022 due to the EU’s sanctions on Russian businessmen.

Key features: 119 metres in length / 8 decks / Top speed of 21 knots / Freestanding carbon-fibre rotating masts / Underwater observation pod / 14 guests

Symphony, owned by Bernard Arnault

Built by: Feadship, the fabled shipyard headquartered in Haarlem in The Netherlands. With an exterior designed by Tim Heywood, it reportedly cost around $150 million to construct.

Owned by: French billionaire businessman and art collector Bernard Arnault. Chairman and chief executive of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company, his current net worth is $145.8 billion.

Key features: 101.5 metres in length / 6 decks / Top speed of 22 knots / 6-metre glass-bottom swimming pool / Outdoor cinema / Sundeck Jacuzzi / 8 guest cabins

Faith, owned by Michael Latifi

Built by: Similarly to Symphony above, also Feadship. With exteriors designed by Beaulieu-based RWD, and interiors by Chahan Design, it cost a reported $200 million to construct in 2017.

Owned by: Until recently, Canadian billionaire and part-owner of the Aston Martin Formula 1 Team , Lawrence Stroll. Recently sold to Michael Latifi, father of F1 star Nicholas , a fellow Canadian businessman with a net worth of just under $2 billion.

Key features: 97 metres in length / 9 guest cabins / Glass-bottom swimming pool — with bar / Bell 429 helicopter

Amevi, owned by Lakshmi Mittal

Built by: The Oceanco shipyard, also in The Netherlands. With exterior design by Nuvolari & Lenard and interior design by Alberto Pinto, it launched in 2007 (and cost around $125 million to construct).

Owned by: Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, chairman and CEO of Arcelor Mittal, the world’s largest steelmaking company. He owns 20% of Queen Park Rangers, and has a net worth of $18 billion.

Key features: 80 metres in length / 6 decks / Top speed of 18.5 knots / On-deck Jacuzzi / Helipad / Swimming Pool / Tender Garage / 8 guest cabins

Odessa II, owned by Len Blavatnik

Built by: Nobiskrug, the same German shipyard that built Sailing Yacht A . Both interior and exterior were created by Focus Yacht Design, and the yacht was launched in 2013 with a cost of $80 million.

Owned by: British businessman Sir Leonard Blavatnik. Founder of Access Industries — a multinational industrial group with current holdings in Warner Music Group, Spotify and the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat — he is worth $39.9 billion.

Key features: 74 metres in length / 6 guest cabins / Top speed of 18 knots / Intimate beach club / Baby grand piano / Private master cabhin terrace / Outdoor cinema

Nautilus, owned by Thierry Stern

Built by: Italian shipyard Perini Navi in 2014. With interiors by Rémi Tessier and exterior design by Philippe Briand, Nautilus was estimated to cost around $90 million to construct.

Owned by: Patek Philippe CEO Thierry Stern. Alongside his Gulstream G650 private jet, Nautilus — named for the famous sports watch — is his most costly mode of transport. His current net worth is $3 billion.

Key features: 73 metres in length / 7 guest cabins / Top speed of 16.5 knots / Dedicated wellness deck / 3.5 metre resistance pool / Underfloor heating / Jet Skis

Silver Angel, owned by Richard Caring

Built by: Luxury Italian boatbuilder Benetti. Launched in 2009, the yacht’s interior has been designed by Argent Design and her exterior styling is by Stefano Natucci.

Owned by: Richard Caring, British businessman and multi-millionaire (his wealth peaked at £1.05 billion, so he still makes the cut). Chairman of Caprice Holdings, he owns The Ivy restaurants.

Key features: 64.5 metres in length / Cruising speed of 15 knots / 7 guest cabins / Lalique decor / 5 decks / Oval Jacuzzi pool / Sun deck bar / Aft deck dining table

Lady Beatrice, owned by Frederick Barclay

Built by: Feadship and Royal Van Lent in 1993. Exteriors were created by De Voogt Naval Architects, with interiors by Bannenberg Designs. She cost the equivalent of £63 million to build.

Owned by: Sir David Barclay and his late brother Sir Frederick. The ‘Barclay Brothers’ had joint business pursuits including The Spectator , The Telegraph and delivery company Yodel. Current net worth: £7 billion.

Key features: 60 metres in length / 18 knots maximum speed / Monaco home port / Named for the brothers’ mother, Beatrice Cecelia Taylor / 8 guest cabins

Space, owned by Laurence Graff

Built by: Space was the first in Feadship’s F45 Vantage series , styled by Sinot Exclusive Yacht Design and launched in 2007. She cost a reported $25 million to construct.

Owned by: Laurence Graff, English jeweller and billionaire businessman. As the founder of Graff Diamonds, he has a global business presence and a current net worth of $6.26 billion.

Key features: 45 metres in length / Top speed of 16 knots / Al fresco dining area / Sun deck Jacuzzi / Breakfast bar / Swimming platform / Steam room

Want more yachts? Here’s the handcradfted, homegrown history of Princess…

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Grigory Ges. Biography. Fighting. Awards. Ranks. A photo.

Born Grigory Ges in 1916 7 year in April in the village of Vasilyevka, in a family of factory workers. After graduating from high school he worked as an accountant at the club. September 1937, began service in the Soviet Army. He studied there in the school junior aviation specialists. After graduating in 1941 year Bataisk military aviation school, he worked as an instructor pilot.

Since October 1944 years - in WWII. He flew more sorties 20, 20 spent about air combat and shot down a German aircraft 5.

After the war, he continued to serve in the Air Force. By participating in the Korean conflict, 1950-53 years, captain Ges commander Squadron 1-176-ended th Regiment commited 120 sorties in the aerial battles over Korea 9 destroyed American aircraft. One day, after one of the fights of captain Ges reported to the leadership that brought down in combat once an American plane.

According to him, the fire was a short distance, and American pilot car exploded in the air. This was confirmed by other pilots who participated in air combat. However, the film is charged in fotopulemet who worked in sync with the guns could not be evidence of effectiveness in conducting attacks. This battle took place in a very large range of heights, glass fotopulemeta heavily misted in a dive, and the picture turned out completely blurred.

Command was put in a very difficult position. There could decide to report to higher headquarters about the fact of the destruction of the aircraft, but fully believed Gesyu and his comrades. These doubts are dispelled airport mechanic who performed the post-flight inspection of the iron bird. Wing "MiG" Ges "brought back" part of the tape machine gun "Colt-Browning." Which was set to blow up a US plane in the air.

10 1951 October of Ges was promoted to the rank of the Hero of the country, presented the award at home. On his return Ges continued service in the Air Force. In 1957 year Major Ges left in stock. I lived in Elektrostal (Moscow Region). He was awarded for showing the merits of the Order of the Red Star (three times) and Lenin (twice). He died in January 7 1968 years.

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Poland’s Thriving Yacht Building Industry: Yacht Style Special, Part 1

In the first of a two-part feature on Poland’s booming boat building industry, Yacht Style focuses on luxury yacht brands Sunreef, Galeon and Conrad.

Sunreef Yachts has been helping raise the international profile of Polish yacht building since Frenchman Francis Lapp founded the luxury catamaran builder in 2002 in the historic Gdansk Shipyard, on the country’s north coast. And Poland’s profile as a major player in the yachting world recently took another leap after Rafa Nadal was announced as a future owner of the new 80 Sunreef Power.

Rafa Nadal, with Francis Lapp, will receive his 80 Sunreef Power catamaran in 2020

Nadal – one of tennis’s all-time greats, with 18 Grand Slam titles – viewed the model’s world premiere at this year’s Cannes Yachting Festival, although his customised version, hull number four, is due for delivery in 2020.

“As someone from an island, the sea is part of our lives and it’s not a secret that I love the sea,” said the Spaniard, who has previously visited and chartered Sunreef catamarans. 
“When I’m at home in Mallorca, I try to go out and find that time where I can just enjoy my time on a boat. I am very happy to be on board with the Sunreef Yachts family and would like to thank Francis Lapp for making this possible.”

Lapp’s company has been on a roll in the past year and has already sold over a dozen units of its 80 sailing catamaran, which only made its debut at Cannes last year. From producing about 10-14 units a year, Sunreef completed 17 in 2018 and this year expects to produce about 24, a company record.

“It has been a spectacular year for us,” says Karolina Paszkiewicz, PR and Marketing Director of Sunreef. The company now has over 720 employees, with about 500 from Poland and over 200 from Ukraine, a remarkable head count for a company that customises the layout and interior of every yacht.

Sunreef has sold over a dozen units of its 80 sailing catamaran

Yet Sunreef’s super-luxurious catamarans are a stark contrast to the historic but decaying brick-walled sheds in which they’ve been built for the past 17 years. The company is now in a transition to a nearby four-hectare (40,000sqm) facility, with the move from Gdansk Shipyard set to be complete by 2020.

GDANSK BECOMES BOATING HUB

The enormous shipyard is situated on the side of the Martwa Wisla river and on Ostrow Island, and established Gdansk as one of northern Europe’s leading shipbuilding cities.

It was also the site of iconic protests in 1980 led by former shipyard electrician Lech Walesa that led to the foundation of the Solidarity movement and eventually the end of communist rule. In the mid-2000s, Jean-Michel Jarre and then Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour played big concerts here in tribute to the movement.

Gdansk Shipyard was founded as a state-owned company in 1945 on the sites of former German shipyards considerably damaged in the Second World War, while other large-scale shipyards emerged in neighbouring Gdynia, as well as Szczecin to the west.

Sunreef, founded in Gdansk in 2002, displays its catamarans in the Old Town for the Pomorskie Rendez-Vous

Poland also developed as a boatbuilding nation after the Soviet leadership chose it to produce yachts, among other products, for all countries from the Eastern Bloc. Even today, many yachts cruising the waters of the former Soviet states – Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia – are labelled as ‘Made in Poland’.

In the 1980s, yachts built in Poland started to be exported, primarily to northern and western Europe, and North America. However, with the political changes following the end of communism, many of the biggest yacht-building companies went bankrupt and new privately owned companies emerged.

BOAT FACTORY OF THE WORLD

Poland became home to production facilities for many foreign brands, including several from yachting’s two biggest conglomerates – France’s Beneteau Group and USA’s Brunswick Group.

In 1992, Jeanneau was among the first foreign companies to 
build boats in Poland. Today the Beneteau Group has a 16-hectare (160,000sqm) facility in Ostroda, an hour’s drive southeast of Gdansk, that employs about 900 people and builds Beneteau and Jeanneau boats, including the Merry Fisher 895 Marlin that features in this issue’s Islands & Coasts .

Sailing boats by prolific Polish builder Delphia Yachts, which was acquired by the Beneteau Group late last year and is now focusing on motor boats

Last year, Beneteau Group added a second facility in Poland – and another brand – when it bought Delphia Yachts, one of the country’s biggest yacht builders and now focused on motor boats at its facility in Olecko in the northeast of this country of 38 million people.

Brunswick brands like Sea Ray, Bayliner and Quicksilver are also built in Poland, while other foreign companies that have boats built in the country include Hanse from western neighbour Germany, Denmark’s X-Yachts, Finland’s Axopar, and Norway’s Windy and Askeladden.

The vast majority of yachts built in Poland, including by
local brands, are exported and overall production has ramped up dramatically in recent years. According to Polboat (Polish Chamber of Marine Industry and Water Sports), the value of the country’s exported boats doubled from 2013 to 2017, rising from €241m to €484m.

Polboat also announced that the country’s annual production recently returned to its pre-2008 financial crisis high and has since bettered it, with 23,000 boats in a year and turnover increasing by 15 per cent. About 95 per cent of the boats are exported, primarily to Norway, France, USA, Netherlands and Germany.

Polboat President Sebastian Nietupski says Poland has benefited from European grants

Furthermore, Polboat states that Poland is Europe’s leading producer of motorboats with outboard engines from 6-11m (20-36ft), while globally it’s second only to the USA.

“Poland produces a lot of boats for local brands and also a huge number for foreign brands. This shows we’ve built trust and that this is one of the best countries to produce boats and invest in,” says Sebastian Nietupski, President of Polboat.

“This is now one of the best times ever in Poland as we have benefited from European grants for new projects and investments, so many of our boatyards have brand-new machinery and the latest technology. This is a really strong asset.

“But we don’t just want to produce or follow. We want to be leaders, to be the best. We want Poland to be known for the best fuel-economy solutions or the most innovative designs. In fact, because of brands like Galeon, foreign shipyards are now copying our design ideas.”

GALEON MOTORS AHEAD

There’s a healthy representation of local brands among the massive number of Polish-built boats exported around the world, with Galeon leading the local charge and still growing fast, globally and particularly in the US.

A Galeon 650 Fly takes pride of place in this year’s Wind and Water show in Gdynia

Established in 1982 in the communist era, Galeon now has 1,400 staff working on 30-49ft models in its inland site in Straszyn and 50-78ft yachts at its bigger site, with marina, along the Martwa Wisla river.

From building about 80 boats in 2016, its units increased to 120 the following year and 150 in 2018, even though the company is slowing down production of its 30-40ft models.

Across the world, Galeon has become renowned for innovations like the rotating cockpit sofa and ‘Beach Mode’ drop-down sides, features first incorporated on the Tony Castro-designed 500 Fly unveiled at Cannes in 2015. Such features have since been rolled out on other models including the 460 and 640.

The brand’s huge growth in the US has followed its sales partnership from 2016 with MarineMax, the world’s largest yacht retailer, while other dealers around the world include Hong Kong-headquartered Asiamarine and Alexander Marine Australia.

“Our innovations have brought us a lot of success around the world in the past few years, although we’ve only been really active in the US in the last three,” said Grzegorz ‘Greg’ Tuszynski, Galeon’s Managing Director.

Galeon’s riverside facility has a marina and is the larger of its two production sites

“Last year we were already fourth in sales among 40-70ft motor yachts in the US, making us the top European or non-American brand. We expect this ranking to increase in 2019 and are hopeful of eventually becoming No. 1, while also growing in Europe, Asia and Australia.”

CONRAD BRINGS SUPERYACHT ACCLAIM

Poland enjoyed further acclaim in May when the Conrad 133’ Viatoris , built in Gdansk, was honoured at the World Superyacht Awards in London, winning Best Displacement Motor Yacht 300- 499GT – 30-47.9m.

Conrad Shipyard has generally been a custom-boat builder and has in the region of just 80 full-time staff, but can also draw on the resources of its parent company, Marine Projects, which has about 400 people working in its waterfront site on the Martwa Wisla.

With a name inspired by Heart of Darkness author Joseph Conrad (born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski), Conrad was established in 2003 and has worked on a wide variety of motor yachts, classic tugboats and large sailing yachts, including tall ships such as the 67m Le Quy Don for the Vietnamese navy.

However, when the 40m Viatori s, designed by Reymond Langton for a Russian owner, was shown at both Cannes and the Monaco Yacht Show last year, it enabled Conrad’s build quality to be compared with the most renowned superyacht builders.

Conrad’s 133ft Viatoris, pictured in the heart of Gdansk’s Old Town, was a winner at the 2019 World Superyacht Awards, another success for Polish yacht building

“Presenting Viatoris at Cannes and Monaco put us in a completely new market. Viatoris showed we can be compared with superyachts from the Netherlands, for example, and for a good price,” says Michael Michalczewski, Conrad’s Marketing and Sales Director.

“Also, as it was more of a commercially viable project, we can now go down the route of offering semi-custom builds, using the Conrad 133’s naval architecture.”

Because of its rich shipbuilding history, Poland is well known for its body work, and local shipyards often construct the hulls or superstructures for globally renowned superyacht builders, particularly from Germany and the Netherlands.

Dutch conglomerate Damen Group, the parent company of renowned superyacht builder Amels, has a marine-components facility in Gdansk and its own shipyards in Gdynia and also Kozle in the south, west of Krakow. In recent years, Damen Shipyards Gdynia built the 140-tonne aluminium superstructure for the 83m Here Comes The Sun , Amels’ largest yacht to date.

Note: The second part of the article will appear on Luxuo on October 17

www.polboat.eu

www.sunreef-yachts.com

www.galeon.pl

www.conradshipyard.com

The original article appears in Yacht Style Issue 49. Email [email protected] for print subscription enquiries or subscribe to the Magzter version at: w ww.magzter.com/SG/Lux-Inc-Media/Yacht-Style/Fashion/

Yacht Style Issue 49: The 2019 ‘World Premieres Issue’ Out Now!

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Why the U.S. put a $1 million bounty on a Russian yacht’s alleged manager

On Sept. 3, 2020, the staff of a $90 million yacht placed an order with a U.S. company for a set of luxury bathrobes that came to $2,624.35.

For roughly two years before that, according to federal prosecutors, the yacht’s management had been falsely claiming it was working for a boat named “Fanta.” But the luxury bathrobes came embroidered with a monogram that, prosecutors said, revealed the yacht’s true identity: “Tango.”

That was a problem, officials say in court papers, because Tango was owned by a Russian billionaire under U.S. sanctions, and doing business on his behalf violated federal law.

Late last month, U.S. authorities unveiled a $1 million reward for information leading to the arrest and or conviction of the man they say was running the yacht staff and orchestrated the deception with the robes — Vladislav Osipov, 52, a Swiss-based businessman from Russia. In a new indictment , federal prosecutors say Osipov misled U.S. banks and companies into doing business with the Tango yacht despite the sanctions on the Russian owner, whom the Justice Department has identified as billionaire Viktor Vekselberg .

Osipov has denied the allegations. Osipov’s attorney has said that the government has failed to demonstrate that Vekselberg owned the yacht, and that its management was therefore not a sanctions violation.

The reward offer for Osipov reflects the latest stage in the evolution of the West’s broader financial war against Russia two years into the war in Ukraine, as the United States and its allies increasingly target intermediaries accused of enabling Russian oligarchs to circumvent sanctions.

Many Russians close to President Vladimir Putin have been under sanctions dating to 2014, when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and sent proxy forces into that country’s eastern Donbas region. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, President Biden vowed to deal a “crushing blow” with a barrage of new sanctions on financial institutions, industries, business executives and others tied to the Kremlin. But roughly two years later, Russia’s economy has proved surprisingly resilient after the nation poured tens of billions of dollars into ramping up its military industry. Moscow has also worked around the sanctions, finding new third parties to supply it with critical military and industrial hardware, as well as countries beyond Europe to buy its oil.

Now, the West is trying to increase the reach of its sanctions by digging deeper into Russian supply chains. Late last month, the Treasury Department announced more than 500 new sanctions targeting Russia , primarily on military and industrial suppliers. The Justice Department also announced charges against two U.S.-based “facilitators” of a Russian state banker who is under sanction, as well as the guilty plea of a dual national based in Atlanta who was accused of laundering $150 million through bank accounts and shell companies on behalf of Russian clients.

Prioritizing criminal charges against — and the arrests of — Western employees of Russia’s elites represents a new escalation of the U.S. financial war against Putin, experts say. One Moscow businessman, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said many influential Russians are concerned about the arrest of two associates of Andrey Kostin, the head of VTB, Russia’s second-biggest state bank. These associates, Vadim Wolfson and Gannon Bond, were charged with helping Kostin evade sanctions by maintaining a $12 million property in Aspen, Colo., for Kostin’s benefit while concealing his ownership. Kostin has said that the charges of sanctions evasion against him are “unfounded” and that he has not violated any laws . Bond has pleaded not guilty; Wolfson hasn’t made an initial court appearance yet.

Wolfson, also known as Vadim Belyaev, had been a Russian billionaire until the Russian government took over his bank in 2017. Bond, 49, is a U.S. citizen from Edgewater, N.J. For all Russians living abroad and working with people in Russia, the threat of criminal charges is a much more worrying prospect than the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department last month against hundreds of individuals and entities, the businessman said, in part because sanctions are far easier to dodge than criminal charges.

“What you have seen through today’s public announcements are our efforts at really targeting the facilitators who possess the requisite skill set, access, connections that allow the Russian war machine [and] the Russian elites to continually have access to Western services and Western goods,” David Lim, co-director of the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force, which is tasked with enforcing U.S. sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, told reporters last month.

Thad McBride, an international trade partner at the law firm Bass Berry & Sims, said the crackdown on intermediaries reflected the natural evolution of the U.S. sanctions campaign in response to Russian adjustments.

“It seems to me they have gone through a comprehensive list of the oligarchs, and you can debate whether or not it’s had a meaningful impact on the Russian war effort,” McBride said. “Because they’re getting smarter about who’s who, they’re finding other people who play meaningful roles in these transactions, even though they’re not showing up in the headlines.”

The charges against Osipov related to his alleged management of the Tango yacht illustrate the mounting potential consequences for people in Europe and the United States who attempt to do business with Russians targeted by Western allies, as well as the opaque structures allegedly employed by those seeking to evade sanctions.

With a net worth estimated by Forbes in 2021 at $9 billion, Vekselberg, 66, has long drawn scrutiny from the West — and sought to safeguard his wealth. He made his initial fortune in aluminum and oil in Russia’s privatization of the 1990s and then expanded into industrial and financial assets in Europe, the United States and Africa, with Putin’s blessing. In addition to the yacht, federal prosecutors say, Vekselberg acquired $75 million worth of properties, including apartments on New York’s Park Avenue and an estate in the Long Island town of Southampton.

Vekselberg, who declined to comment for this article, has not been criminally charged by the Justice Department. In a 2019 interview with the Financial Times, he denounced the sanctions as arbitrary and harmful for international business, saying he had been targeted just because he was Russian and rich and knows Putin.

In April 2018, the Treasury Department under the Trump administration sanctioned Vekselberg and six other Russian oligarchs as part of broader financial penalties over the Kremlin’s invasion of Crimea, support for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria and interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Vekselberg was also targeted for his work for the Kremlin as chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation, an attempt to create Russia’s version of the Silicon Valley — evidence that appeared to undermine the Russian businessman’s claims that he operated independently of the Kremlin.

But with Vekselberg’s payments monitored by U.S. banks, according to the federal indictment , Osipov used shell companies and intermediaries to avert the bite of sanctions. Vekselberg kept other major assets out of the reach of U.S. authorities by making use of the Treasury Department’s 50 percent ownership rule, which stipulates that it is illegal to transact with firms only if an owner under sanction controls more than 50 percent of the business.

For example, a month after Treasury imposed sanctions on Vekselberg in April 2018, his Renova Innovation Technologies sold its 48.5 percent stake in Swiss engineering giant Sulzer to Tiwel Holding AG, a group that is nevertheless still “beneficially owned” — meaning, owned in practice — by Vekselberg through Columbus Trust, a Cayman Islands trust, according to Sulzer’s corporate filing. Vekselberg’s longtime right-hand man at Renova, Alexei Moskov, replaced one of Vekselberg’s direct representatives on the board. Moskov told The Washington Post that he stepped down from all his executive positions at Renova Group in 2018 after U.S. sanctions were first imposed and from that moment ceased to be Vekselberg’s employee.

The attempts to circumvent the sanctions appear to have found some success in the U.S. legal system. Columbus Nova, a U.S.-based asset management fund controlling more than $100 million in assets in the U.S. financial and tech industry, is run by Vekselberg’s cousin, Andrew Intrater. The firm battled for more than two years to lift a freeze on Columbus Nova’s assets, imposed by Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control because of the sanctions on Vekselberg, and won, reaching a settlement agreement with the Treasury Department. After renaming itself Sparrow Capital LLC, Columbus Nova successfully argued that Intrater — not Vekselberg — owns the fund. Intrater argued that the company was 100 percent owned by U.S. citizens and that no individual or entity under sanction held any interest in it. Intrater said Columbus Nova had earned fees for managing investment funds owned by Renova. He said he had repeatedly told Treasury he would not distribute any funds to Vekselberg.

Now Osipov, the alleged manager of Vekselberg’s $90 million yacht, is attempting a similar argument as U.S. authorities seek his arrest on charges of bank fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and violations of sanctions law.

The federal indictment states that the Tango was owned by a shell corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands that was in turn owned by several other companies. The Virgin Islands shell company, authorities say, was controlled by Osipov, who also served in senior roles for multiple companies controlled by Vekselberg. U.S. officials also say Vekselberg ultimately controlled the other companies that owned the Virgin Islands shell company.

According to the indictment, a Tango official instructed a boat management company in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to use a false name for the yacht — “Fanta” — to disguise its true identity from U.S. financial institutions and firms, which try to avoid doing business with an entity or person under sanction.

Working at Osipov’s direction, according to the indictment, employees for Tango bought more than $8,000 worth of goods for the yacht that were unwittingly but illegally processed by U.S. firms and U.S. financial institutions, including navigation software, leather basket magazine holders provided by a bespoke silversmith, and web and computing services. The management company running Tango, run by Osipov, also paid invoices worth more than $180,000 to a U.S. internet service provider, federal prosecutors say.

The Tango was seized by the FBI and Spanish authorities in the Mediterranean not long after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and Osipov was first indicted last year. The owner of the Spanish yacht management company hired by Osipov, Richard Masters, 52, of Britain, was criminally charged last year by federal prosecutors with conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal sanctions law. A request for comment sent to Masters’ firm was not returned.

But in recent court documents, Osipov’s attorney argues that the yacht was not more than 50 percent owned by Vekselberg, and that the government hasn’t demonstrated it was. Barry J. Pollack, an attorney at Harris, St. Laurent and Wechsler, also says the government never warned Osipov of its novel and “unconstitutional” application of federal sanctions law.

“The government points to no precedent that supports its extraordinary interpretation and cites no authority that allows the traditional rules of statutory construction to be turned on their head,” Pollack wrote in a defense filing. The filing adds: “[Osipov] is not a fugitive because he did not engage in any of the allegedly criminal conduct while in the United States, has never resided in the United States, did not flee from the United States, and has not concealed himself.”

Still, the State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program has said it will provide up to $1 million for information leading to Osipov’s arrest, warning that he may visit Herrliberg, Switzerland; Majorca, Spain; or Moscow.

The case demonstrates the extent of the U.S. commitment to tighten the screws on those seen as aiding Russian elites, even if they themselves are not closely tied to the Kremlin.

“When DOJ levels legal action against an individual or entity, they have quite a bit of evidence, especially because the threshold to press charges for money-laundering and sanctions evasion is so high,” said Kim Donovan, director of the Economic Statecraft Initiative within the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center. “We’ve had quite a bit of experience targeting Russia directly, and what you’re starting to see is the U.S. go after the facilitators enabling sanctions evasion. That’s where the U.S. is focusing its efforts right now.”

Jewish Encyclopedia of Russia Surnames starting with the letter P

Translated by josif and vitaly charny.

The following list is a translation of names and minimal personal data for 8,500 people included in Jewish Encyclopedia of Russia (Rossiyskaya Evreiskaya Entsiclopediya); first edition; 1995, Moscow.

Famous people who are listed in the book, which in fact is a biographical dictionary, were born in Russia, the USSR, the Russian Empire, or lived there. This is the first edition of this kind in Russia and a large group of specialists from Russia, Israel and other countries participated in the project.

There are many more well known people in Russia to be included in the next edition of the book. We have to remember that the success of many of these people was achieved against all odds related to limited opportunities that Jews had in Russia.

The translation is an attempt to inform people about this additional source available for researchers.

Vitaly Charny

A    B    C    D    E    F    G    H   I    J    K    L    M    N    O    P    Q   R    S    T    U    V    W    X   Y    Z   

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