$961 million Divorced with one daughter Interests: natural gas, real estate, media, fertilizer and titanium production
It’s been an annus mirabilis for the gas, chemicals and titanium magnate.
After his nemesis Yulia Tymoshenko lost out to Viktor Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential election, Firtash acquired chemicals plant Stirol in Donetsk and won an international arbitration court ruling forcing Ukraine’s state gas company to hand over around $3 billion (12.1 billion cubic meters) of gas to gas trader RosUkrEnergo, which he co-owns.
Some political insiders say Firtash’s contacts in Yanukovych’s inner circle have given him even more clout than Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov.
Another, more questionable contact appeared to emerge in a U.S. diplomatic cable from Kyiv published by WikiLeaks, which reported that Firtash in December 2008 confirmed to then U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor that he once had ties with alleged Russian mafia boss Semyon Mogilevich.
Taylor quoted Firtash in the cable saying that “he needed, and received, permission from Mogilevich when he established various businesses, but he denied any close relationship to him.”
Firtash issued a statement in response, on Dec. 2, denying any links.
The ambassador estimated in the cable that Firtash had a fortune of more than $5 billion, but suggested experts believed it was more likely to be higher.
Dragon Capital placed him this year at less than $1 billion, saying his true wealth is hard to fathom.
One thing is for sure – with Yanukovych in office and strengthening his grip on power, Firtash is on an upward trajectory.
Editor’s Note: In the interests of full disclosure, Dmytro Firtash has issued proceedings for libel in relation to a prior article by Public Media.
