The Russian Oligarchs are Fighting
 

Looks like money doesn't buy happiness, can't Berezovsky just relax and enjoy his stolen $Billions. It wouldn't surprise me if one of these guys ends up dead, most likely Berezovsky as he's fallen out with Putin (Berezovsky claims that Putin has already tried to kill him once)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19433325

Roman Abramovich wins court battle against Berezovsky

Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich has won the breach of trust and contract case brought by exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky.

Mr Berezovsky, 65, said he had been a business partner of Mr Abramovich, 45.

He said he was intimidated into selling shares in Russian oil giant Sibneft for a "fraction of their true worth" and claimed some £3bn ($4.7bn) in damages.

But the London Commercial Court judge Mrs Justice Gloster said Mr Berezovsky was an "inherently unreliable" witness.

The BBC estimates the total legal costs in the case are up to £100m.

In her ruling the judge said: "On my analysis of the entirety of the evidence, I found Mr Berezovsky an unimpressive, and inherently unreliable, witness, who regarded truth as a transitory, flexible concept, which could be moulded to suit his current purposes."

She said she dismissed Mr Berezovsky's claims in relation to Sibneft - and a claim Mr Abramovich had broken a promise over a deal involving Russian aluminium company RusAl - "in their entirety".

Afterwards Mr Berezovsky said he did not know whether he was going to appeal but said: "I am absolutely amazed by what's happened today... particularly because Lady Gloster rewrote Russian history."

He said he did not regret bringing the case against Mr Abramovich and added: "I was absolutely shocked... but life is life."
'Political godfather'

BBC correspondent Bridget Kendall, who was in court, said: "Mr Berezovsky listened to all this impassively. At times fist under his chin clenched slightly. Once he took a sip if water and turned to speak to lawyer at his side."

The judge said she found Mr Abramovich "to be a truthful, and on the whole reliable, witness".

Mr Abramovich was not in court for the ruling and is thought to be in Monte Carlo for Chelsea's Super Cup Final on Friday night.

When he gave evidence, Mr Abramovich had said Mr Berezovsky was paid millions of pounds for his services as a "political godfather" but was not a business partner.

The court heard Mr Berezovsky "fled Russia, never to return" in 2000, after falling out with then president Vladimir Putin.

Both men have homes in London, with Mr Abramovich owning a property in Knightsbridge as well as a 400-acre estate in Fyning, West Sussex.

On his arrival in court on Friday Mr Berezovsky, who now faces a huge legal bill, told reporters: "I believe in the system."

During the three-month trial, which is thought to have cost millions of pounds in legal costs, the court heard details of the lifestyles of Russia's super-rich oligarchs.

Mr Berezovsky claimed Mr Abramovich was a "gangster" while Mr Abramovich responded by saying there were times when Mr Berezovsky was "something of a megalomaniac".

The hearing was told Mr Abramovich bought a businessman a plane to say thank you after one deal.

Mr Berezovsky told the court he was born in Moscow, studied mechanics and mathematics and worked as a designer for Russian state car maker AvtoVAZ in the 1970s, before going into business in the 1980s.

Dr Evil claim

In the 1990s, following the collapse of communism, Mr Berezovsky embarked on a political career and Mr Abramovich's lawyers claimed he was a "power broker" and a "highly controversial figure".

The hearing was told Mr Berezovsky's expenses - including "palaces in France", "private aircraft", "valuable paintings" and "jewellery for his girlfriend" - were paid for by Mr Abramovich.

The two oligarchs first met in 1994, when Mr Abramovich was a 28-year-old oil trader who dreamed of creating a "vertically-integrated" oil company.

Mr Abramovich's lawyers said Mr Berezovsky saw the idea as "offering the opportunity for great wealth".

The BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford said there had been a lot of interest in the case in Russia as it shed light on the controversial sale of Russia's mineral wealth by the state to a small group of oligarchs in the early 1990s.

Mr Abramovich told the court he left school at 16 and served in the Red Army before beginning his business career by selling plastic toys.

He said he had "never aspired to be a public figure" and, in a written statement, listed the acquisition of Chelsea in 2003 under "political and charitable" activities.

But Mrs Justice Gloster said of Mr Berezovsky: "At times the evidence which he gave was deliberately dishonest; sometimes he was clearly making his evidence up as he went along in response to the perceived difficulty in answering the questions in a manner consistent with his case; at other times, I gained the impression that he was not necessarily being deliberately dishonest, but had deluded himself into believing his own version of events."

Berezovsky its real cool man ))))