Your daily dose of international intrigue involves Football super agent slash ‘fund manager’ Kia Joorabchian and his mentor Boris Berezovsky.
Via the BBC:
“The exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has been found dead at his home in Surrey. The circumstances of the death of Mr Berezovsky – a wanted man in Russia, and an opponent of President Vladimir Putin – are not yet known.A former Kremlin power-broker whose fortunes declined under Mr Putin, Mr Berezovsky emigrated to the UK in 2000.Last year, he lost a £3bn ($4.7bn) damages claim against Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich.”
The two made news back in 2007, when a judge in Sao Paulo ordered their arrest after money-laundering allegations linked them to their investment in Corinthians. Berezovsky claimed the warrant stemmed from the Kremlin’s vendetta against him. Media Sports Investment–Joorabchian’s firm– was suspected of investing in Corinthians as a way to launder tainted money from oversees. Corinithians cut ties with MSI and players like Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano were sold off. The club was relegated from Brazil’s first division soon after.
The Joorabchian-Tevez relationship was a strange one altogether.
Joorabchian and Berezovsky’s relationship goes back to 1999, when American Capital, owned by Joorabchian and an associate bought Russian newspaper Kommersant. American capital passed on ownership of the paper to Berezovsky. Many–read:everyone– believed the Russian oligarch was behind American Capital’s bid in the first place.
Berezovsky became wealthy by selling imported Mercedes in the 1990s. After helping Putin gain power in the late 90s he was pushed aside and left Russia in self-imposed exile.
Anyways, Berezovsky’s suspicious demise carries some of the hallmarks of Alexander Litvinenko’s death in 2006, though e was said to be struggling financially and rumors of suicide have already surfaced.
More on this as it relates to football in any way.
