He suspected his wife of infidelity, and it broke his life.
Former senator and billionaire Vladimir Slutsker passed away at the age of 69. He spent the last weeks of his life in a Swiss hospice, battling a serious illness. News of the entrepreneur's death only emerged two months later — only after hearings related to the division of his assets began in a British court. The story of Slutsker's life and death turned out to be no less scandalous than his high-profile divorce from Olga Slutsker, the founder of the World Class fitness club chain.
Slutsker’s death, one of the most discussed businessmen of the early 2000s, became known through a publication in The Guardian. According to the publication, the entrepreneur died in September from cancer. In his last days, he was in serious condition in a hospice in Geneva. Even during this time, he was surrounded by legal battles: the billionaire fought in court with his ex-wife Alena, who demanded compensation from him after their divorce.
In recent years, Slutsker lived in London, where, by his own account, he lost everything. In 2024, he told a British court that he was bankrupt and could not pay 27 million pounds on a mortgage for a 45 million pound house in the prestigious South Kensington area. At that time, he claimed that he had lost his assets due to fraud and no longer owned his previous fortunes. However, after his death, it turned out that the billionaire still had assets worth about 285 million dollars. Among the assets were elite real estate in London and Moscow, investment portfolios, and a collection of artworks. The mansion in the British capital was impressive in scale: nine bedrooms, a heated swimming pool, a wine cellar, a private cinema, and a garage for four cars.
A month before his death, the court ruled that Slutsker’s heirs were obliged to pay his ex-wife Alena about 32 million dollars, as well as settle child support arrears.
Slutsker was known not only as an entrepreneur but also as a politician. He served as a senator from Chuvashia and participated in the development of bills related to internet regulation and testing migrants for knowledge of the Russian language. However, he gained widespread fame not for this, but for his high-profile separation from his first wife — Olga Slutsker, which was discussed throughout the country. The couple was married for almost 20 years. With the help of a surrogate mother, they had two children — son Mikhail and daughter Anna. Everything changed in 2009 when Vladimir suspected his wife of infidelity. The divorce was accompanied by a real media storm — Slutsker accused Olga of betrayal and took the children away from her, moving them to Israel.
For Olga, this was a devastating blow. She fought for the right to see her children in courts of various countries, but to no avail.
In one of her interviews in 2020, Slutsker recalled how she met Vladimir. She said it happened during a vacation in Sochi: the businessman approached her to introduce himself and offered to have dinner. Even then, he was a wealthy and self-confident person, driving a Mercedes and not hiding his means. Despite his wealth, they lived with his parents in a regular apartment, Olga recalled.
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