Largest ever divorce settelement

[zwiebel]

This largest ever divorce settlement is $4.8 billion.

I wasn't sure where to put it. Not saying former wife getting that share is bizarre - it's just the amount. Mind numbing.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/20...-wife-gets-record-breaking-divorce-settlement

 

[Mrs G Norris]

One word. Pre-nup.

 

[zwiebel]

Apparently, they met when they were both students - Elena was studying to be a doctor - and married long before the fortune was amassed.

In this interview she says she has been followed by PIs every minute of the day, since the divorce. The article also says her husband spent time in prison while a murder was investigated, but charges were later dropped.

(Translated by google)
http://translate.google.co.uk/trans...q=elena+rybolovleva+Bilan&client=safari&hl=en

 

[zwiebel]

Elena was brought up in an industrial town in the Urals under Soviet rule. She thought it was 'like Hollywood' the first time she was allowed to travel to a place where a person could buy fresh milk, bread and cheese when they wanted to.

 

[zwiebel]

Perm in the Urals, Elena's birthplace. It's not looking too bad now, but the site says it was the center of the Soviet war industry, so I bet it was bad, and very closed off from everywhere and everyone before.

http://www.uraltourism.com/

 

[zwiebel]

When Soviet rule collapsed, just a few people seemed to amass unbelievably large fortunes, very quickly. Interesting, that.

For the great majority of people though, poverty remains a problem, it seems. It's a shame.