Semion Mogilevich

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Yudkovich and the family name is Mogilevich.
Semion Mogilevich
An image of Semion Mogilevich released by the FBI and State Department on 6 April 2022
An image of Semion Mogilevich released by the FBI and State Department on 6 April 2022
FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive
Charges
AliasSeva Moguilevich
Semon Yudkovich Palagnyuk
Semen Yukovich Telesh
Simeon Mogilevitch
Semjon Mogilevcs
Shimon Makelwitsh
Shimon Makhelwitsch
Sergei Yurevich Schnaider
Description
BornSemion Yudkovich Mogilevich
(1946-06-30) June 30, 1946 (age 78)
Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
NationalityUkrainian, Russian, Israeli
Height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)
Weight130 kg (290 lb)
OccupationRussian mafia boss, confidence trickster, businessman, racketeer, crime lord, gangster
Spouse
Tatiana Markova
​
(divorced)​
Galina Grigorieva
​
(divorced)​
Katalin Papp
​
(m. 1991)​
ChildrenAt least 3[1]
Status
AddedOctober 23, 2009[2]
RemovedDecember 17, 2015
Number494
Removed from Top Ten Fugitive List

Semion Yudkovich Mogilevich (Ukrainian: Семен Юдкович Могилевич, romanized: Semén Yúdkovych Mohylévych [seˈmɛn ˈjudkowɪtʃ moɦɪˈlɛwɪtʃ]; born June 30, 1946) is an Ukrainian-born Russian organized crime boss. He quickly built a highly structured criminal organization, in the mode of an American mafia family; many of the organization's 250 members are his relatives.[3] He is described by agencies in the European Union and United States as the "boss of all bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world,[4] he is believed to direct a multibillion-dollar international criminal empire and is described by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as "the most powerful and dangerous gangster in the world," with immense power and reach at a global scale, and connections to prominent government, military, and law enforcement officials, and powerful politicians around the world.[5][3] He has been accused by the FBI of "weapons trafficking, contract murders, extortion, drug trafficking, and prostitution on an international scale."[6]

Mogilevich's nicknames include "Don Semyon" and "The Brainy Don" (because of his business acumen).[7] According to US diplomatic cables, he controls RosUkrEnergo,[8] a company actively involved in Russia–Ukraine gas disputes, and is a partner of Ivan Gordiyenko.

Mogilevich has three children and is closely associated with the Solntsevskaya crime group. He has alliances with political figures, including Yury Luzhkov, the former Mayor of Moscow, Dmytro Firtash, and Leonid Derkach, former head of the Security Service of Ukraine.[9][10][11] Oleksandr Turchynov, who was designated the acting President of Ukraine in February 2014, appeared in court in 2010 for allegedly destroying files pertaining to Mogilevich.[12] Shortly before his assassination, Russian FSB defector Alexander Litvinenko claimed Mogilevich had a "good relationship" with Vladimir Putin from the 1990s.[13][14][a]

William S. Sessions, Director of the FBI from 1987 to 1993 during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, was Mogilevich's attorney in the United States until Sessions' death on June 12, 2020.[17][18]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference heavy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "New Top Ten - Global Con Artist". FBI. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
  3. ^ a b Friedman, Robert I. (May 26, 1998). "The Most Dangerous Mobster in the World". The Village Voice. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
  4. ^ Glenny, Misha (2008). McMafia : a journey through the global criminal underworld (1st ed.). New York: Knopf Books. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-1-4000-4411-5. OCLC 162501937.
  5. ^ Goldman, Marshall I. (2008). Petrostate : Putin, power, and the new Russia. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-971257-1. OCLC 646747869.
  6. ^ Peters, Justin (August 5, 2013). "This Obese Mob Boss Is Twice the Villain Whitey Bulger Ever Was". Slate. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  7. ^ "AMW | Fugitives | Semion Mogilevich | Case". Archived from the original on March 16, 2010. Retrieved November 9, 2010.
  8. ^ According to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko "we have no doubts whatsoever that the man named Mogilevich is behind the whole operation called RosUkrEnergo," see The High Price of Gas by BBC News. He has denied through a lawyer any links to RosUkrEnergo, see Russia frees crime boss wanted by U.S. by Reuters.
  9. ^ Ukraine, Vanco Energy and the Russian Mob, Eurasia Daily Monitor, September 16, 2008.
  10. ^ Rachkevych, Mark (December 3, 2010). "U.S. Official: Austrian Bank's Ties to RosUkrEnergo Suspicious". Kyiv Post. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  11. ^ Weiss, Michael (March 19, 2014). "Married to the Ukrainian Mob". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on July 11, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  12. ^ Byrne, Peter (December 10, 2010). "New and conflicting details emerge over Mogilevich's alleged involvement in nation". Kyiv Post. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  13. ^ Listen: Alexander Litvinenko's apparent warning before his death By Lyndsey Telford, Edward Malnick and Claire Newell 12:00PM GMT 23 January 2015.
  14. ^ "Litvinenko Ties Putin to Crime Lord From Beyond Grave". www.occrp.org. Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  15. ^ Sterbenz, Christina (December 1, 2014). "The worst gangster most people have never heard of". Business Insider. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  16. ^ Kupchinsky, Roman (March 25, 2009). "The Strange Ties between Semion Mogilevich and Vladimir Putin". Eurasia Daily Monitor. Vol. 6, no. 57. Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  17. ^ Unger, Craig (2018). House of Trump, House of Putin : the untold story of Donald Trump and the Russian mafia. New York, New York. p. 218. ISBN 978-1-5247-4350-5. OCLC 1043342267.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  18. ^ Heffernan, Virginia (January 14, 2018). "Column: A close reading of Glenn Simpson's Trump-Russia testimony". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 25, 2021.


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