Leonid Rozhetskin

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, where he became a U.S. citizen. Rozhetskin was a "brilliant student", winning scholarships to Columbia University, where he graduated with distinction. In 1990, Rozhetskin graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School.

Rozhetskin received a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching from Harvard University, 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.

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, representing clients such as the International Finance Corporation (a division of the World Bank), Credit Suisse, Morgan Grenfell and The Moscow Times.

Career in investments, mining and media

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.

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. In August 2003, Rozhetskin sold the MegaFon stake to Altimo, a subsidiary of Mikhail Fridman's Alfa Group.

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. Rozhetskin was 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, he was credited as a producer of Hamlet 2; he was also credited as an executive producer of the 2009 film Boogie Woogie.

Personal life

Rozhetskin married model Natalya Belova, who gave birth to their son in 2005. According to The Sunday Times, 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."

Disappearance and death

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 at 2:30 am on 16 March. Many Western media sources quickly assumed he was dead, although the Russian press claimed he was living in California under the Federal Witness Protection Program.

In 2012, a body found in a forest near Tukums was that of Rozhetskin, according to preliminary DNA tests.

Notes

References

References

1. Walsh, Conal. (6 December 2007). "Western investors worry as Russian writs fly: The rights of foreign shareholders are at stake in a Moscow courtroom in a case that can only get nastier - and more entertaining.". [[The Guardian]].
2. (30 November 2007). "Russia's Altimo says MegaFon dispute resolved". [[Reuters]].
3. (12 February 2008). "Interview With Altimo CEO, Alexey Reznikovich". Cision.
4. Middleton, James. (30 July 2007). "Altimo vs. Ipoc: it's all over". telecom.com.
5. (20 March 2008). "City AM founder disappears in Latvia". [[The Guardian]].
6. Edwards, Richard. (21 March 2008). "Russian-born City AM backer disappears". [[Daily Telegraph]].
7. {{IMDb name. 2811837
8. (11 May 2008). "The missing multi-millionaire: A cut-throat mystery for the new Cold War: All that was left behind was a pool of blood when Leonid Rozhetskin disappeared two months ago. Investigators are still no closer to working out what happened. What has become of the Russian tycoon with a thirst for danger?". [[The Independent]].
9. (25 March 2008). "City AM backer Leonid Rozhetskin feared dead". Daily Telegraph.
10. (23 September 2008). "В Лондоне исчезла жена Леонида Рожецкина (Leonid Rozhetskin's wife disappeared in London". [[RBC TV]].
11. Gain, Bruce. "Missing Americans body a DNA match in Latvia". www.crimelibrary.com.
12. (September 2024). "Leonid Rozhetskin: Russia's missing tycoon". [[The Sunday Times]].