Businessman Lebedev Platon Leonidovich, notorious in connection with the Yukos affair and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, today rarely attracts media attention. But the general public continues to be interested in his life and details of the biography. We will tell about his career and family, about what Platon Lebedev lives today, the state of which many experts are trying to calculate.
early years
Lebedev Platon Leonidovich was born on November 29, 1956 in the capital of the USSR. He was the eldest of the twins, his brother Victor was born 23 minutes later. An entrepreneur never talks about his childhood in public, as well as about his parents. The first reliable information about his early years was connected with his studies at the Plekhanov Moscow Academy of National Economy. Lebedev received a diploma of higher education in 1981 and by distribution he came to work in the foreign trade structure of the USSR Ministry of Geology, in the Zarubezhgeologiya association. He headed the department of economic planning. At this place he worked until 1989.
Acquaintance with Khodorkovsky
At the beginning of perestroika, the future famous businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky was actively looking for ways to make money. In 1987, Plato and Michael met. And already in 1989 the idea of creating a joint Center for scientific and technical programs for youth, at the Frunze district committee of the Komsomol. Lebedev Platon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Sergey Monakhov became the main characters in this enterprise. They were engaged in the import of computers, the manufacture of “boiled” jeans, and the sale of alcohol.
MENATEP
By the end of the 80s, the Intersectoral Center for Scientific and Technical Programs, abbreviated as MENATEP, turned into a large enterprise. It had about 20 different lines of business. The annual turnover of the company reached the figure of 80 million rubles. In addition, the company provided cash withdrawal services to various state-owned companies. This scheme became a model that was copied in many cities of the USSR. Over the years, more than 600 such centers have appeared. In the early 90s, the Center was transformed into a commercial bank. Platon Lebedev, whose biography was now closely connected with the activities of Khodorkovsky, was a co-founder of the bank and had 7% in this new enterprise.
Banking activity
In 1991, Lebedev became president of the MENATEP Bank, through which payments were made by several government agencies, including the Ministry of Finance. The company carried out a lot of ingenious operations with offshore companies, with the issue of shares and with treasury tax exemption. This allowed for several years to create a huge capital, which the bank with Lebedev’s participation invested in shares of commodity companies. Participation in mortgage auctions allowed the bank to concentrate in its hands a controlling stake in the oil company Yukos. By the end of 1996, the bank already owned 90% of the shares of this enterprise. By 1998, after a default, MENATEP Bank had frozen huge amounts of legal entities and individuals. They failed to return their money, as the funds were withdrawn to other companies, including Yukos. And the bank was declared bankrupt.
YUKOS
In 1996, Lebedev Plato became deputy. Chairman of the Board of Yukos. He also headed the MENATEP group of companies, managed the shares of the oil company. In 1998, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev carried out a global reform of Yukos, several companies appeared engaged in holding various types of activities: production, processing, transportation of oil, as well as the production of oils, additives, and special equipment. The leaders understood that they would not be able to do without the investments of foreign investors, and they went to pay large dividends, which allowed to increase huge production capacities in a short time. By 2003, all subsidiaries were transferred to a single share, which helped the price of Yukos securities to grow significantly.In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky began to seriously engage in social and political activities, even expressing his intentions to become president of Russia. This has led to close attention to the activities of Yukos by the tax and law enforcement agencies.
Prosecution
In July 2003, Lebedev Platon was charged with embezzlement of Apatit shares and arrested. During the investigation, the number of charges increased significantly. Lebedev was also charged with responsibility for tax evasion, misappropriation of other people's property, and falsification of documents. Lawyers and the accused himself constantly emphasized the political subtext of the case, not admitting their guilt. Lebedev from the very beginning stated that he needed treatment, but this had no effect on the investigation, nor was he able to release him on bail. The trial attracted great attention from foreign and opposition media. Lebedev and Khodorkovsky were considered prisoners of conscience. The investigation and the hearing took two years. In May 2005, Lebedev was sentenced to 9 years. But two months later, the court reduced it by 1 year.
Prison and Release
In October 2005, Lebedev Plato was sent to a colony in the Yamal-Nenets district. In 2007, the “second Yukos case” was launched, Lebedev was accused of embezzlement and money laundering. The European Court of Human Rights found this lawsuit absurd and politicized. However, in 2008 the charges were brought in a new wording. Despite various circumstances that allowed law enforcement agencies to change the preventive measure to Lebedev and Khodorkovsky, they still remained in custody. Over the years of imprisonment, Platon Leonidovich repeatedly expressed protests, refused walks and food and categorically did not admit his guilt. In 2010, Lebedev was sentenced on a second charge. Neither the complaints of lawyers, nor the decision of the ECHR, nor the petition for parole were taken into account, and Platon Leonidovich remained in prison. And only in 2014, the president reduced the term to already served, and thus Lebedev was released 4 months earlier than what was supposed to be by the sentence.
Life today
Lebedev Plato spent more than 10 years in prison, this significantly undermined his health. Therefore, initially after his release, he intended only to correct it. He could not and cannot continue to leave Russia since the debt of 17 billion rubles was hanging on him and he was not issued a passport. Therefore, he quietly settled in the suburbs. If in 2003 his fortune was estimated at $ 15 billion, then in 2015, according to Forbes, it amounted to only $ 500 million. He repeatedly said that he was going to engage in international business.
Family
Back in 1977, Lebedev married for the first time to Natalia Yemyasheva. The couple had two children: a son and a daughter. Already in custody, Lebedev divorced and entered into a second marriage. The wife’s name was hidden for a long time, and only after some time it became known that the pair Plato Lebedev + Maria Cheplagina appeared. Their relationship began long before the prosecution, and the couple at the time of Lebedev’s arrest already had two children, two daughters. The last event, which again aroused attention to Lebedev, was the tragic death of his granddaughter, the beautiful Diana, on the highway in Switzerland.
