KATE DENNETT, 16 May 2020
Two Russian bankers, who lived in luxury in England, face having their assets seized by financial investigators after they were declared the second-biggest bankrupts in British history.
Financial investigators are searching to claim former Russia’s National Bank Trust (NBT) shareholders Ilya Yurov and Nikolay Fetisov’s assets. This comes after they were accused of siphoning off customers’ savings through a network of shell companies, The Times reported.
Mr Yurov, 48, and Mr Fetisov, 49, who bought NBT in 2003, have joint debts of £730million. They were praised for transforming NBT and used their wealth to buy luxury mansions, expensive and chartering private jets.
The two bankers hired Die Hard actor Bruce Willis as the face of their bank for £1.5million a year. His was featured in an advertisement alongside the phrase ‘when I need money I simply take it’.
But they are now Britain’s second-biggest bankruptcy, with the biggest bankrupt believed to have been Vladimir Kekhman, who described himself as the ‘banana emperor of Russia’. In 2012, Mr Kekhman was declared bankrupt with £1.05billion in debt.
