(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) Soviet-born billionaire businessman Len Blavatnik donated the maximum amount to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul‘s election campaign, even as Hochul directed the state government to stop working with Russia, Newsmax reported.
Hochul, a Democrat, became governor in August 2021 after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid sexual harassment and COVID-19 scandals.
Blavatnik, who has ties to Russian oligarchs that the federal government sanctioned, donated $10,000 to Hochul on Nov. 11, 2021, and an additional $59,700 on Jan. 12, 2022, according to the state Board of Elections’ records.
Blavatnik also had a long-standing relationship with Cuomo, to whom he donated $180,000 over 20 years. His wife and brother donated an another $11,900 to Cuomo.
In an executive order dated Feb. 27, Hochul directed New York’s agencies to “divest their money and assets” and “to terminate any contracts with an institution or company that is determined to be” Russian or supporting Russia.
The “State will not permit its own investment activity, whether directly or indirectly, to aid Russia, or any other entity, as it commits these human rights violations and atrocities in violation of the rights of the Ukrainian people,” Hochul declared in the order.
Blavatnik made billions when the Russian Federation privatized the former Soviet Union’s public assets at fire-sale prices during the Perestroika, which largely created Russia’s current oligarchic class.
According to Wikipedia, he no longer has Russian citizenship but now has citizenship in the United States and the United Kingdom.
He is the wealthiest person in the United Kingdom and the 35th wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $34.2 billion.
Blavatnik purchased Russian aluminum, oil, and mining companies at dirt-cheap prices in the 1980s and 1990s.
He has donated to several major politicians, including Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Kamala Harris, Marco Rubio, Chuck Schumer, Lindsey Graham, Pete Buttigieg, and Joe Biden.
The Treasury Department sanctioned two of Blavatnik’s business partners, Viktor Vekselberg and Oleg Deripaska.
“It is fair to consider Blavatnik the most successful oligarch to emerge from the post-Soviet space,” according to author Casey Michel, who wrote “American Kleptocracy: How the U.S. Created the Greatest Money Laundering Scheme in History.”
