Alexander Pavlovich Smolensky (; 6 July 1954 – 13 October 2024) was a Russian
business oligarch
A business oligarch is generally a business magnate who controls sufficient resources to influence national politics. A business leader can be considered an oligarch if some of the following conditions are satisfied:
# uses monopolistic tactics to ...
.
Biography
Alexander Smolensky began his business activities on the black market of the so-called "shadow economy". His private ventures included trading foreign currency, moonlighting on a second job in a bakery with a counterfeit permit as well as typesetting and printing Bibles using government presses and ink. He was arrested by the KGB in 1981 and charged with economic crimes. Subsequently, he was sentenced to two years of hard labour although he only served one day.
Alexander Smolensky is considered the first private banker of Russia. Alexander Smolensky was the founder and president of one of the largest private banks in Russia - Bank Stolichny.
In 1992, he set up the country's first debit card processing system. In 1998 he merged his agribusiness assets in Agroprombank (acquired in 1996), which was renamed SBS-Agro and gave the businessman a tremendous influence at the Kremlin.
SBS-Agro collapsed in the
1998 Russian financial crisis
The Russian financial crisis (also called the ruble crisis or the Russian flu) began in Russia on 17 August 1998. It resulted in the Russian government and the Russian Central Bank devaluing the Russian rouble, ruble and sovereign default, defau ...
wiping out its investors' savings. When asked what he owed his investors he replied: "dead donkey ears". He also declared that his banking activities had not gone bankrupt, but solely split into several structures spread throughout the country and managed by an advanced computer system.
In 1999 Russian prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest including charges of embezzlement and money laundering. This warrant, however, was later dropped.
Smolensky's
net worth
Net worth is the value of all the non-financial and financial assets owned by an individual or institution minus the value of all its outstanding liabilities. Financial assets minus outstanding liabilities equal net financial assets, so net w ...
in 2003 was estimated to be 230 million
USD
The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
. By 2003 he renamed his group OVK Bank, turned it over to his son Nikolay, who sold it to
Vladimir Potanin
Vladimir Olegovich Potanin (; born 3 January 1961) is a Russian oligarch. He acquired his wealth notably through the controversial loans-for-shares program in Russia in the early to mid-1990s.
As of May 7, 2025, Forbes ranked 81st richest in ...
two months later.
In 2004 his son Nikolay Smolensky purchased the sportscar maker
TVR
TVR Electric Vehicles Limited is a British manufacturer of sports cars. The company manufactures lightweight sports cars with powerful engines and was, at one time, the third-largest specialised sports car manufacturer in the world, offering ...
.
(The company went bankrupt in 2007.)
In the period from 2006 to 2011, the former oligarch became interested in literary work and published seven books in the political thriller genre. The opuses were based on real stories from the life of the Russian elite.
After 2011, Smolensky disappeared from the public eye.
In 2019 a company associated with Smolensky sold the last four office complexes in Moscow, including the famous Alexander House, the former headquarters of Vladimir Putin. The deal was valued at over €60 million.
Smolensky died on 13 October 2024, at the age of 70.
See also
*
Semibankirschina
The Seven Bankers () were a group of powerful Russian oligarchs who played an important role in the political and economic spheres of the Russian Federation between 1996 and 2000. In spite of their internal conflicts, members of the group worked ...
References
Books
*
David E. Hoffman. ''
The Oligarchs: Wealth and Power in the New Russia'', Public Affairs (2003)
1954 births
2024 deaths
Russian newspaper publishers (people)
Businesspeople from Moscow
Russian bankers
Soviet bankers
Russian billionaires
Russian oligarchs
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