The life of Boris Abramovich Berezovsky

In 1989, he started to engage in business, starting by acquiring a number of state-owned automobile companies, and turning the company into a company specializing in imported cars. As his business empire continued to expand, his reputation grew. During the Yeltsin era, he was accused of gaining political privileges and using his political influence to acquire stakes in other state-owned heavy industries, including oil and media. Among them, his media empire is regarded by the outside world as the reason why Yeltsin won the 1996 presidential election.

In 1996, during the Russian presidential election, various financial and industrial groups, brokered by Berezovsky, united to support Yeltsin's candidacy. After Yeltsin's successful election, Berezovsky was appointed deputy secretary of the National Security Council.

Since the new Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, Berezovsky immediately became the target of the Putin regime. He was charged with multiple counts of financial fraud and corruption. Berezovsky refused to give in and formed the political party "Free Russia". Accused of stealing the country and embezzling huge amounts of corporate property, Berezovsky sold his property and immigrated to the UK in 2001 to avoid prosecution and sought political asylum. He has been wanted by Russian police ever since.

In 2006, the poisoning of Russian agent Litvinenko occurred in the UK. The agent died of mysterious poisoning in the incident, which sparked many speculations afterwards. Among them, Berezovsky was accused of being the mastermind of the case and trying to use the matter to attack Putin.

In November 2007, Berezovsky was sentenced in absentia to six years in prison for embezzling approximately US$8.79 million in assets from Aeroflot. Berezovsky insisted that this was a "political persecution" against him by the Russian government.

On July 3, 2009, Moscow prosecutors sentenced Boris Berezovsky, a Russian financial oligarch in exile in the UK, to 15 years in prison for defrauding him of 3 million pounds.

In 2012, Berezovsky and another Russian billionaire, Abramovich, the owner of the British Chelsea Football Club, went to court in London. The two were once business partners, but later broke up. The lawsuit was about a dispute over oil company transactions in the 1990s. Berezovsky accused the other party of forcing him to sell shares at ultra-low prices. Ultimately, the court dismissed his lawsuit.