How Did Vladimir Putin Become So Powerful And Wealthy?

[Dave24]

For a short time Thursday, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos surpassed Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates as the richest person alive. Amazon's stock price then slid, and Bezos went back to the No. 2 spot, according to Forbes' real-time ranking.

But as the Seattle entrepreneurs jockey for the top ranking, Russian President Vladimir Putin is worth more than both Gates and Bezos combined, says one financier.

Putin's net worth is estimated to be $200 billion, according to former Hermitage Capital Management CEO Bill Browder, who testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, according to prepared remarks obtained by The Atlantic.

Currently, Gates is worth almost $90 billion and Bezos is worth almost $85 billion.

"I estimate that he has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains." -Bill Browder, former CEO of Hermitage Capital Management
"I estimate that [Putin] has accumulated $200 billion of ill-gotten gains," Browder tells Congress, according to The Atlantic. "He keeps his money in the West and all of his money in the West is potentially exposed to asset freezes and confiscation."


Browder says Putin's wealth is a result of nefarious practices.

"There are approximately 10,000 officials in Russia working for Putin who are given instructions to kill, torture, kidnap, extort money from people and seize their property," continues Browder.

Browder founded and lead Hermitage Capital Management, which from 1996 through 2005 was an investment advisory company in Russia and had as much as $4 billion invested in Russian stocks. In 2005, the financier entrepreneur was labeled a "threat to national security" there and banned from the country. After he was forced out, Russian officials seized Hermitage Capital Management's investment funds and, according to Browder, Putin's officials stole $230 million Hermitage Capital Management had paid in taxes to the Russian state.

Browder was testifying in front of Congress because the Russian lawyer he hired to investigate the seizure of his company, Sergei Magnitsky, was tortured and eventually killed in prison in 2009. Ever since, Browder has been an advocate against corruption in Russia. As such, he was called to testify as part of a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

200 billion ....




Is Vladimir Putin the richest person in the world? This financier claims he's worth $200 billion

 

[Basil of Baker Street]

Wait what? I thought bezos was worth much more than that.

 

[Neuromancer]

Subs.

 

[Benjamin Sisko]

Seizing the russian oil ogliarchy and putting them in jail can make anyone rich

 

[NoMoreWhiteWoman2020]

Plata or plomo

 

[CEO of Morgan Industries]

He took that shyt from a lot of wealthy Russian oligarchs upon threat of being disappeared.

 

[TRFG]

good for him...

USA aint seizing shyt

 

[010101]

you heard the saying gangster make the world go round¿*

 

[Geek Nasty]

He's been using the country to make himself rich. Some oligarch stops playing by his rules, he throws the guy in jail and seizes his compnay. Anyone that wants to do business in Russia or build certain projects has to give Putin a cut. This is why Trump was kissing his ass so much before the election. He was trying to get a casino built in Russia.

 

[jackswstd]

Intimidation, Assassination, the usual.

 

[I Really Mean It]

Bezos and Gates are businessmen. Putin is a gangster at the head of the second most powerful nation on the planet. Nobody wants that smoke.

 

[Kwabena]

Richer than Bezos & Bill Gates combined?

 

[Benjamin Sisko]

Richer than Bezos & Bill Gates combined?

Gates and Bezos just own and operate companies. Putin owns and controls the largest country in the world in terms of land mass and all of her resources that comes with it. Everything big in Russia that is accomplished goes through him. Land is the worlds most valuable resource.

 

[Ya' Cousin Cleon]

but he ain't want that smoke with breh

had them Russian cac's shook since the 90's. ​

 

[Nemesis]

Putin is just a typical African dictator with a white face