Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov
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Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov is a Russian associated with organized crime, including arms dealing, smuggling, and bribing figure skating judges in the 2002 Winter Olympics[1].
[edit] Friends and Associates
Michael Cherney (Mikhail Chernoy) is also a known associate of Russian mobster. A 2002 New York Times article reported that Tohktakhounov introduced Michael Cherney to the “famous Russian mob leader, Anton Malevsky,” who is a contract killer and head of the Izmailovskaya gang. Malevsky met an untimely death in a parachute accident in South Africa in 2001.
Tokhtakhounov was notably close to professional Russian tennis players. For instance, a 2002 article in the Belgium daily La Libre Belgique [2] reported on interviews of Russian players following Tokhtakhounov's arrest in Italy. Yevgeni Kafelnikov defended his "friend", Marat Safin refused to discuss a topic that was "not his problem" while Anna Kournikova commented "I have heard of this man. But I don't think I should talk about it. I am Russian and I will have to go back there". Pressed to say whether Tokhtakhounov could be qualified as a mobster she answered "one might say that."
