who is ABRAMOVICH, ROMAN ARKADYEVICH?

Oligarch.  Born into a Jewish family in the provincial capital of Saratov,  Abramovich was orphaned as a young child. As a result, he lived  with his relatives in various parts of the Union of Soviet Socialist  Republics (USSR), including Komi in the Russian Far North. He  left university studies before obtaining a degree, though he later  earned a correspondence degree from Moscow State Law Academy.  In the late 1980s, when Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika reforms  permitted private enterprises, Abramovich began his business career  specializing in black market goods before moving into the oil trade.  In 1995, together with Boris Berezovsky, he acquired a controlling interest in the Sibneft oil company through the controversial  loans for shares program. Through Berezovsky, he also developed  a relationship with Boris Yeltsin’s inner circle, known as “the Family,” and was particularly close to Tatyana Dyachenko. Abramovich  and Berezovsky later fell out over business dealings. Eventually,  Abramovich’s business empire grew to include Aeroflot airlines,  aluminum plants, automobile manufacturers, a television station,  food processing companies, real estate firms, and other concerns.  Indicted in several trials and fraud investigations, Abramovich has  always managed to avoid conviction. In 2002, he acquired immunity  from persecution by becoming an elected governor of Chukotka.  During his tenure as governor (2000­-2008), he invested over a  billion dollars into the region, boosting local incomes and curbing  unemployment. In 2005, he sold a lump share of Sibneft to the  state-owned Gazprom. That year, he was reappointed as Chukotka’s  governor by President Vladimir Putin, with whom he reportedly had  a close working relationship. Abramovich resigned his governorship  immediately after Dmitry Medvyedev was inaugurated in 2008.  Ranked as one of the world’s richest figures according to Forbes  magazine, Abramovich owns property in Russia and Europe, and  mainly resides in Great Britain, where he is considered to be  the second-richest person. He owns Millhouse Capital, a Britishregistered investment fund that manages his vast holdings.