Oleg Tinkov

Profile Overview

Oleg Yuryevich Tinkov (Russian: Олег Юрьевич Тиньков; Greek: Όλεγκ Γιούριεβιτς Τίνκοφ; born 25 December 1967) is a Russian-born Cypriot former billionaire, entrepreneur and businessman.
Tinkov is the founder of a network of shops of household appliances Technoshock, frozen food factories Daria, brewing companies and network of Tinkoff restaurants. Among less well-known projects – music store Music Shock and the record label Shock Records, which released first albums by bands Kirpichi, and Leningrad, and which worked with the Knife for Frau Müller. Tinkov was the founder and chairman of the Tinkoff Bank board of directors (until 2015 it was called Tinkoff Credit Systems). The bank was founded in 2007 and as of December 1, 2016, it was ranked 45 in terms of assets and 33 – for equity among Russian banks.
In 2019 Tinkov was diagnosed with leukemia. Tinkov was indicted by a US grand jury in September 2019 for willfully filing false tax returns and attempting to evade over $240 million in taxes while renouncing his US citizenship. He was arrested in London in February 2020 but fought extradition based on a new diagnosis of leukemia making him too unwell to travel. He eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to pay over $508 million in unpaid taxes, fines and a fraud penalty, as well as time served and a year's supervised release.
In 2021 he had complications after surgery and his chances of survival were estimated at only 40%. By 2022 his cancer went into remission. After the diagnosis, Tinkov left management positions in his businesses. In 2020 he announced the foundation of his own charity fund for leukemia sufferers. with $200 million investment of his own money.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimated his net worth at $8.2 billion in November 2021; Forbes estimated his net worth at $0.8 billion four months later. After he publicly criticized the Russian invasion of Ukraine in April 2022, he said officials of the Putin administration threatened to nationalize Tinkoff Bank, and he went into hiding after selling his 35% stake under pressure. In October 2022, he renounced his Russian citizenship, citing the Russo-Ukrainian War and the "Putin fascism" as the reason.