From a first fortune made from manufacturing plastic bags, which were in short supply in the Soviet Union, Alisher Usmanov’s business dealings saw him rise to become one of the 100 richest people in the world, buying multimillion pound mansions and stakes in English premier league football clubs along the way.
Now the Uzbek-born billionaire risks losing some of the trappings of his extreme wealth after he was placed on the EU sanctions list, which named him as “one of Vladmir Putin’s favourite oligarchs”.
The 68-year-old metals magnate was ranked 99 on Forbes magazine’s 2021 billionaires list with an estimated fortune of $14.1bn (£11bn). He is now facing asset freezes on anything he owns in Europe.