Bernie Madoff, Architect of Largest Ponzi Scheme in History, Is Dead at 82

➖ @nytimes ➖

2005, James Woolsey, former CIA director, calls Putin “a fascist”:

The Russian administration under Putin is cracking down on the media, it is cracking down on any businessman who tries to move into politics, it is intimidating human rights activists and it is generally behaving more and more like a fascist government.

https://www.rferl.org/a/1062001.html

Court documents showed Abramovich’s libel suit disputes a claim that Putin ordered his 2003 acquisition of Chelsea as well as other allegations. A spokesperson for Abramovich had no further comment.
The book’s on-record source for the claim is exiled Russian billionaire Sergei Pugachev, who was once a member of Putin’s inner circle before falling out, fleeing the country, and becoming a dissident. In a case in 2017, a High Court judge described Pugachev as an unreliable witness.
The other claimants, whose actions have not been previously reported, are Fridman, his longtime business partner Peter Aven, Russian real estate tycoon Shalva Chigirinsky, and Rosneft, the Kremlin-controlled oil producer. Aven has brought his claim under data protection law. Court documents for those cases are not yet available.

https://amp.ft.com/content/a355a200-4b90-4d73-b193-b73650ab8b77