Platon Lebedev

Platon Leonidovich Lebedev (Russian: Плато́н Леони́дович Ле́бедев; born 29 November 1956) is a Russian businessman and former CEO of Group Menatep. He was convicted of tax evasion, money laundering and embezzlement by Russian courts in two cases and imprisoned from July 2003 to January 2014. He is best known as a close associate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Platon Lebedev graduated from the Academy of National Economy Plekhanov in Moscow in 1981. After graduating he worked in the Foreign Trade Department "Zarubezhgeologia" (Russian: Зарубежгеология) of the Soviet Ministry of Geology until 1989. There he met Leonid Nevzlin who subsequently introduced him to Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Between 1989 and 1992, Lebedev headed the currency and finance department of Khodorkovsky's Bank Menatep and became president and a member of the board in 1993. He served as president until 1995. Since 1996 he sat on the board of oil company Yukos. Lebedev served as CEO of Group Menatep Ltd. (principal shareholder of YUKOS) from 2002 until his arrest in July 2003.

Since 1997, Platon Lebedev holds a stake of about 7 percent in Group Menatep Limited, now GML Limited. Holding company GML Limited controls 51% of Yukos shares. The other four ultimate beneficial owners of GML Limited are Leonid Nevzlin, Mikhail Brudno, Vladimir Dubov and Vasily Shakhnovsky.

On 2 July 2003, Platon Lebedev, then chairman of the board of Menatep, was summoned as a witness to the Prosecutor General’s Office in an investigation into embezzlement of state funds. Shortly before the scheduled visit, Lebedev however felt ill at about 5 a.m. in the morning and was taken to a hospital. Lebedev then subsequently was arrested in the hospital on suspicion of stealing a 20% stake in JSC Apatit.

On 31 May 2005, Lebedev was convicted of tax evasion in 2005, and sentenced to nine years in prison. He was subsequently charged with embezzlement and money laundering in 2009, and pleaded not guilty to the charges. There has been speculation that these charges were politically motivated.

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