Money and more: Evgeny Chichvarkin. Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Chichvarkin Where is Chichvarkin’s year now?

Former co-owner of Euroset

Former co-owner of the Euroset company. Left Russia at the end of December 2008, was charged in absentia as a defendant in a case of kidnapping and extortion, and was on the international wanted list from March 2009 to January 2011; in January 2011, the criminal case against him was dropped.

Evgeny Aleksandrovich Chichvarkin September 10, 1974 in Moscow. His father was a pilot ("worked for forty years in civil aviation, the last twenty - in the passenger room"), and his mother was an engineer-economist in the Ministry foreign trade and the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations.

In 1991-1996, Chichvarkin was engaged in trading in Moscow clothing markets. At the same time, he studied at the State Academy of Management with a degree in “Economics of Motor Transport Management.” After graduating from high school, he was not drafted into the army, since in the same 1996 Chichvarkin entered graduate school at the academy, where he studied until 1998. I did not defend my dissertation. “I didn’t even come up with a topic,” Chichvarkin recalled.

In 1997, Chichvarkin and his childhood friend Timur Artemyev created the Euroset company. According to Chichvarkin, the idea to open a communication salon belonged to Artemyev, and he himself liked to sell - “it’s all the same.” Chichvarkin and Artemyev were later written about as co-owners of the Euroset company, while information about exactly what share of the company belonged to each of them was not disclosed.

In 2001, Chichvarkin appeared in the central press as the manager of the Euroset trading house, and in 2002 - as the director of the Euroset trading network. By that time, the company had become one of the top three leaders in the Moscow market in retail sales of mobile phones, accessories and contracts mobile operators. In the same year, Chichvarkin announced the company’s intention to double (increase from 92 to 200) the number of communication stores under the Euroset guise by the end of the year, developing the network through franchising.

From January to December 2002, Euroset opened more than 100 communication stores, and in 2003, another 117 stores were added to them. At the end of 2003, the first tranche of bills of the Euroset group of companies was issued; in April 2004, the second tranche of bills was issued, and in October of the same year, the company's bond issue with a total nominal value of 1 billion rubles was placed. In 2004, the company opened more than 800 new communication stores. Starting next year, the company began opening not salons, but chain stores: in 2005, 1,934 of them were opened, in 2006 - 1,976. According to Money magazine, the company's turnover in 2005 amounted to $2.6 billion.

Since 2004, Chichvarkin has been mentioned in the press as the chairman of the board of directors of Euroset.

In August 2005, a large consignment of mobile phones was detained at customs at Sheremetyevo airport (the media wrote about 300 tons of boxes with a total value of about ten million dollars), which, according to law enforcement, were imported into Russia illegally, , . Several criminal cases of smuggling were initiated, one of the defendants was the director of the Euroset subsidiary Euroset Opt, Alexey Shirokov, Chichvarkin was involved in the investigation as a witness. According to Chichvarkin, the phone smuggling case became a reason to “crush” his company “with the help of all kinds of checks and raids, and with the help of the press.” The entrepreneur called all accusations regarding Euroset’s use of “gray” imports a lie.

In 2005, Euroset acquired a chain of salons mobile communications"Techmarket" and the Voronezh company "Network of Communications Stores of Russia" (USSR), which allowed it to immediately break away from its competitors and become one of the largest Russian companies retail, . According to data for 2006, Euroset already included 3,150 stores, and in 2007 their number in 12 countries - Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Armenia and Azerbaijan - was already 5156. “Naturally, we are moving towards an IPO,” Chichvarkin said about the company’s plans. At the same time, he noted that he could subsequently do something else: “It would be great to open a hypermarket.”

In 2007, the media reported that Euroset intended to acquire the bank and enter the market banking services. In an attempt to stand out in a line of banks "boring, with nondescript logos" new structure It was decided to call it "Ebank". Commenting on the message about the new project, journalists noted: “Chichvarkin is a great original, and even in such a serious matter he does not betray the principle of show must go on.”

In March 2007, Chichvarkin was mentioned in the media in connection with the initiation of a criminal case against the head of Iled M LLC, Dmitry Sidorov, suspected of tax evasion on a particularly large scale. It was noted that this company supplied Euroset with cell phones and accessories in 2004-2005. The initiation of a criminal case was reported by Kommersant, which indicated that Chichvarkin “during the period of concluding dubious transactions” was a co-founder of Iled M. According to the newspaper, in 2006 he left the co-founders.

In August 2007, as reported in the press, “as part of a previously initiated criminal case,” employees of the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted searches in the apartments of employees of the Euroset company. Meanwhile, the media noted that there was a lot of uncertainty in what happened: some experts connected the searches with the 2005 smuggling case, others with the Iled M case. There was also an opinion that the searches of the managers of Euroset, as well as the searches in the offices of other sellers cell phones(company "Tsifrograd", "Betalink" and Dixis) with subsequent statements by market participants that due to investigative actions, the supply of phones to stores was suspended, was a marketing ploy designed to increase demand.

However, some experts believed that the searches were a response from the security forces to the actions of Chichvarkin, who was in confrontation with the structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Some experts made the conclusion about the targeted actions of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation against Chichvarkin on the basis of information from Kommersant, according to which searches in apartments and workplaces of top managers were carried out only in Euroset and did not affect other retail companies. It was noted that back in March 2006, Euroset announced the illegal seizure of Motorola phones from it, confiscated by the K department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. As a result, Euroset managed to defend its case, and part of the shipment was returned in August of the same year, but law enforcement officials managed to destroy some of the phones “under the guise of products harmful to health.” According to the company's statement, a criminal case was first opened against a group of employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who delivered phones for recycling; one of them, who drew up a protocol on the transfer of phones for recycling, was fined 50 thousand rubles. Soon a separate case was opened against the former special investigator important matters Moscow Transport Prosecutor's Office Dmitry Latysh, who in 2006 ordered the destruction of 50 thousand phones seized from Euroset. In November 2010, the court found him guilty of abuse of power and sentenced him to a year and three months in a penal colony.

In March 2008, the RBC Daily newspaper, citing an informed source in the telecommunications market, reported Euroset's intention to rebrand. Chichvarkin himself did not confirm this information, but did not deny it either, saying only that it was too early to talk about rebranding. According to him, the company would like the brand to be associated “with high, strong positive feelings and emotions” and that “there would be love between buyer and seller, between the company and consumers.”

In April 2008, Vedomosti, citing a source close to AFK Sistema, which controls MTS, reported negotiations regarding the possible sale of Euroset to MTS. At the same time, the publication reported that Euroset shareholders - Chichvarkin and Artemyev - each owned 50 percent of the company's shares. Vedomosti asked them to comment on the information about the possible sale of Euroset: Chichvarkin called it “nonsense,” and Artemyev called it “a lie.”

In September 2008, law enforcement officers conducted a search at the central office of the Euroset company, which was related to the investigation of the kidnapping in 2003 of the former Euroset freight forwarder Andrei Vlaskin, who was caught by the company's security service (SB) in stealing cell phones. The damage from the thefts, according to the Kommersant newspaper, amounted to “several tens of millions of rubles” (Gazeta.ru, with reference to Chichvarkin, reported the theft of large quantities of phones totaling about 20 million rubles, and “ Russian newspaper"gave data that the damage from the thefts was estimated at almost one hundred million rubles). Soon, the vice-president of the company, Boris Levin, and the deputy head of its security service, Andrei Ermilov, were arrested on charges of kidnapping, extortion and arbitrariness. He was also detained , and subsequently SB officer Vitaly Tsverkunov was arrested. Three more SB officers - Alexander Olesik, Roman Chichkov and Vladimir Ilyin - fled from the investigation, according to which in early 2003 they kidnapped Vlaskin and demanded a large sum of money from him, , .

Chichvarkin made comments regarding the arrest of company employees. According to his version, in 2003, Vlaskin, who was put on the wanted list, was detained in Tambov, taken to Moscow (by whom, it was not specified), however, despite the petition of Euroset, he was released on his own recognizance. “We rented him an apartment with the company’s money, where he lived during the investigation,” said Chichvarkin. According to him, during the investigation, Vlaskin admitted to attacking a procurement department employee, Boris Kommunnikov, who discovered the theft of phones, and said that at Euroset itself, “one person from the special services” helped him, but Vlaskin was never charged with the attempt. Admitting that there were facts of “certain pressure on Vlaskin,” Chichvarkin connected what happened with the events of 2006: he stated that the case against Levin and Ermilov was initiated by “those who failed to steal in 2006, and they were left with a residue.”

On September 21, it became known that one hundred percent of the shares of Euroset were acquired from Chichvarkin and Artemyev by the investment company ANN, controlled by Russian financier Alexander Mamut. total amount The deal was valued at approximately $400 million excluding debt, which is approximately $850 million. And in early October, another criminal case was opened against Levin: he was accused of extortion against another Euroset freight forwarder who worked with Vlaskin, whose last name was not reported (later it became known that it was Dmitry Smulgin). As part of the same case, charges were also brought against Levin’s deputy for security, Sergei Katorgin, who, according to investigators, was detained while trying to leave the country. In the same month, the Basmanny Court authorized the arrest of Katorgin, but Chichvarkin continued to insist that he “believes in the innocence of his employees.”

The magazine "Money" noted that, despite the success and prosperity of the company, Chichvarkin did not consider himself rich. “I want to be rich. Money is opportunities,” the entrepreneur said in an interview with the publication in 2006. When asked about plans to engage in politics in the future, Chichvarkin answered that this side of life does not attract him, since selling something is much more interesting. In the same interview, he said that of the literary characters he really liked Chichikov: “I liked how he takes the form of the person he works with...”.

In November 2008, Chichvarkin received an offer to head the Moscow branch of the Right Cause party, which was formed that same month on the basis of the Democratic Party of Russia (DPR), Civil Force and the Union of Right Forces (SPS). Answering a question from Kommersant correspondents about his future party work, Chichvarkin only said that he was “for capitalism.” In the same article, the newspaper cited the words of the co-chairman of “Right Cause”, leader of “Business Russia” Boris Titov, that business representatives will head more than a third regional branches new parties , , . After a meeting of the party’s Federal Political Council, it was announced that Chichvarkin was “appointed responsible for party branding within the framework of the charter,” and in December it became known that the businessman had become a member of Right Cause.

It was planned that in mid-January 2009 the regional conference capital branch of Right Cause, where Chichvarkin would be elected leader, but this did not happen. As the media noted, it was not possible to create a branch of the party in Moscow by the appointed date, which its representatives associated with the personality of Chichvarkin himself, whose candidacy was “dismissed by the Kremlin.” Dissatisfaction, in particular, was caused by the entrepreneur’s approach to the matter: it was reported that he “he wants to create a branch the way business is done: having carefully thought through everything, inviting “VIPs” to the political council, with whom it takes a long time to negotiate." In the same month, the media reported that Chichvarkin was leaving politics altogether. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta , he urgently went abroad due to “the escalation of the situation surrounding the criminal prosecution of his former business associates.” Where exactly the businessman went was not reported. His assistant only clarified that Chichvarkin “is on vacation abroad and it is not known when he will return” ( Earlier, Kommersant wrote about a businessman vacationing in the UK “and on phone calls does not respond"). However, at the end of February of the same year, reports appeared that the entrepreneur was elected to the political council of the Moscow branch of the Right Cause party.

On January 23, it became known that the Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor's Office (SKP) put Chichvarkin on the federal wanted list and issued a resolution in absentia to charge him as a defendant in a case of kidnapping and extortion. At the same time, Chichvarkin’s lawyers stated that the investigation did not notify them “of any actions against the businessman.” On January 28 of the same year, the Basmanny Court of Moscow authorized the arrest of Chichvarkin in absentia. Later it was reported that former owner"Evroseti", who left Russia on December 22, 2008 - an hour before a summons for questioning at the Investigative Committee was delivered to his home - lives in London, , .

On March 11, 2009, the Prosecutor General's Office put the businessman on the international wanted list through Interpol. In the same month, the Vremya Novostey newspaper, citing its sources, reported that the investigation “managed to find and persuade to cooperate” Olesik and Chichkov, who confessed, reporting that “Levin forced them to participate in the kidnapping of Vlaskin and Smulgin and at the same time allegedly constantly said that Chichvarkin was behind him." In June 2009, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation issued decisions to initiate three new criminal cases, strengthening the previous charges against Levin and the company's security service employees involved in the case.

In July 2009, Chichvarkin’s lawyers announced that the indictment in his case would be changed: according to their information, he was to be charged not as an organizer, but as an accomplice of a criminal group. As Vedomosti reported, the case was reclassified to make it easier for the investigation to prove the businessman’s guilt. Also, according to this publication, Chichvarkin should have been charged with knowingly false denunciation against Vlaskin. In the same month, information appeared in the press that Denis Evsyukov, who served at that time in the 5th operational-search unit of the Moscow Internal Affairs Directorate (in 2008, took over the post of head of the capital’s Tsaritsyno police department and gained fame after crime he committed - the shooting of employees and visitors of the Ostrov supermarket in the south of Moscow in April 2009). It was reported that, according to investigators, the criminal case against Vlaskin for the theft of a consignment of mobile phones was fabricated by police officers and supported by fake invoices. It was Evsyukov, the media noted, who was responsible for searching for the freight forwarder who was “hiding from the investigation.” After this message, the Rosbalt news agency suggested that the criminal case against Chichvarkin “could develop into another high-profile investigation - about abuse by the management and employees of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Southern District of Moscow.”

In September 2009, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation reported that back in August, the Westminster Court of England issued an arrest warrant for Chichvarkin, thereby obliging the businessman to appear in the British court upon first summons. At the same time, the media disseminated information about the completion of all investigative actions in relation to other defendants in this criminal case: it was reported that after the accused familiarize themselves with its materials, it will be transferred to court.

In 2009-2010, Chichvarkin regularly gave comments in the program “Main Economic Events of the Week” on the Russian News Service (RSN) radio station. On August 20, 2010, the businessman wrote on his blog that the program was taken off the air because of his criticism of the government. Chief Editor RSN Sergei Dorenko, also on his blog, responded that he did not want to completely deprive Chichvarkin of the air and offered to compensate for the closure of the section caused by technical difficulties (for example, it was difficult for an entrepreneur to reach England) by increasing the presence of the businessman on air. Chichvarkin called Dorenko’s reaction “very strange” and suggested “calling if anything happens.”

In April 2010, the media reported the death of Chichvarkin's mother Lyudimila, whose body was found in her apartment on Leninsky Prospekt. The former owner of Euroset himself stated that he did not believe “in the version of her “non-violent death”.” However, “due to the absence of a crime,” no criminal case was initiated. At the same time, the Chichvarkins’ lawyer said that experts found more than 20 injuries on the woman’s body. The defender turned to the Chairman of the RF SKP Alexander Bastrykin 3], . However, in April of the same year, the businessman’s lawyer reported that the investigation into the smuggling case was resumed due to the loss of material evidence and “due to the lack of calculation of unpaid customs duties.”

In August 2012, Chichvarkin opened a wine store in London, Hedonism Wines, in which, according to him, he invested an “eight-figure sum.”

Many media outlets noted Chichvarkin’s “unusual image for a serious businessman.” “I was always mistaken for an idiot,” the businessman said in an interview. “It used to be offensive, but partly it’s convenient.” As an example of the shockingness that accompanied the person of Chichvarkin and his company, they recalled the slogan “Euroset - the prices are just wow!” “There is nothing funnier than the word “ass”,” Chichvarkin said in an interview with Dengi magazine in 2006. In 2007, Maxim Kotin’s book about Chichvarkin “Chichvarkin E... is a genius. If out of 100 times you are sent 99...”, written in the “success story” genre, was published. It described in detail the history of the formation of Euroset and the biography of the businessman himself. According to critics, the figure of Chichvarkin in the book “turned out to be not very sympathetic and therefore looks quite reliable.”

Chichvarkin is interested in exotic music and sports. Among winter sports, he prefers cross-country skiing and ice skating.

Chichvarkin is married and has a son.

On September 10, 1974, a new citizen of the USSR was born into the Chichvarkin family - Evgeny Chichvarkin. The circumstances of the child’s birth are shrouded in a light veil of secrecy: Chichvarkin himself assures that he was “physically born” in Leningrad, and for some reason the formal registration took place in Moscow.

As we see, life always - from the very beginning - provided young Chichvarkin with the opportunity to choose. And he, either a Muscovite or a Leningrader, always skillfully used this opportunity and did not go with the flow, like most of us, but weighed the pros and cons in every matter and made a conscious decision.

Perhaps this ability to soberly assess any situation and extract the maximum benefit from it lies the success of the Russian and now British entrepreneur Evgeny Chichvarkin (see others).

The mysteries of Chichvarkin’s origin are not limited to the question of the place where future businessman looked at the world for the first time. There are family legends that indicate that representatives of the past generations of Chichvarkins did not belong to the indigenous Russians. He himself repeatedly said that his great-great-grandfather was a moksha.

Who are mokshas? This is a people living rather secluded in the north of Mordovia. Some representatives of the ethnic group today also live in the Volga region, Estonia, Siberia and even distant Australia. Mokshas manage to modern world preserve their originality: some of them adhere to their own pre-Christian beliefs and have their own views on the structure of the universe.

They say that brilliant children are often born into mixed, multi-ethnic families. It seems that in the case of Chichvarkin this is true: no matter how he seems to us, in any case, no one will ever blame a successful businessman for ordinary thinking and excessive standardization of actions.

A little about childhood and youth

The family in which Evgeniy spent his early years was, in general, ordinary: nothing foreshadowed the appearance of a son with exceptional business acumen and the ability to make money truly “out of thin air.”

My father worked all his life in civil aviation, my mother was an economist at the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Apparently, there was wealth in the house, but Zhenya could not be classified as one of the representatives of the spoiled “golden youth”.

Since childhood, the boy showed obvious leadership qualities and the ability to defend his position. During trips to the collective farm, where the guys helped harvest the crops, Zhenya was appointed as a foreman. Of course, he wanted his team to work better than others.

And he came up with an original way to increase “employee motivation”: he placed a toy penguin near the bed of the most productive employee, and hung an ordinary dryer on his nose. This “transient drying” served as a kind of distinctive sign, a banner.

Evgeniy went to school with his favorite tape recorder. The teachers' attempt to take away the thing that was interfering with classes was unsuccessful: Chichvarkin even got into a fight with the head teacher, but he defended the tape recorder.

Already during his school years, Zhenya was actively selling. In particular, he sold cigarettes: he did not smoke himself, but sold packs he bought at a stall for a few kopecks for a ruble to thirsty classmates.

Then the shuttle period began, when no one had money, food disappeared from store shelves, and the country plunged into poverty. In this muddy water, Zhenya knew how to catch fish, and quite large ones: he met the “shuttle traders” who brought bales of cheap, but popular and fashionable clothes from Turkey, and organized sales at the market.

And again, an original approach to business: if everyone else was selling jeans and sweaters taken from bales and simply thrown on the counter, then Evgeniy had every pair of jeans neatly ironed and beautifully folded. Naturally, customers purchased goods from him much more often and more willingly than from careless neighbors.

During the period of trading at Cherkizovsky, Evgeniy was already receiving higher education. It was the State Academy of Management. After finishing school, my father brought Zhenya a list of Moscow universities for him to choose. And the young man quickly made up his mind: the direction “Economics of Management of Motor Transport” was not particularly popular among applicants, and therefore there was no competition.

Evgeniy understood that higher education was necessary, but what kind of education was not so important. He followed the path of least resistance, easily entering the Academy. Studying did not at all interfere with the main business of life, entrepreneurship, for which Evgeniy already had a steady desire and demonstrated obvious abilities.

In the morning, having risen at five o'clock by the alarm clock, the future co-owner of Euroset went to the market, where he quickly sold out a fresh batch of goods. Then he came to the Academy, almost always making it to the first class. After school, I bought beer and dumplings for my friends, and the cheerful student team spent time as students should: having riotous feasts and discussing interesting new literature.

As if everything is the same as others? Not entirely: most of his fellow students were dependent on their mothers and fathers, but Zhenya was already completely independent. He could afford to dress decently, take a girl to a restaurant, buy an expensive item.

In 1996, my studies ended. Yesterday's student, having received a diploma in his hands higher education, I thought: what next? However, he did not think for long: soon an interesting thought struck him.

"Euroset"

The cell phone sales network was founded by Chichvarkin and his friend Timur Artemyev in 1997.

The company grew quickly and gained momentum. 2003 can be called a period of real explosion: at that time the first tranche of Euroset bills was issued.

At first, trade was only in cell phones, but gradually the list of goods expanded: the owners added DECT phones, MP3 players, and the latest models of cameras.

By 2004, Euroset was confidently conquering more and more new spaces: branches were opened in the former republics Soviet Union– in Ukraine, in Kazakhstan.

5 years after the opening of Euroset, it became a leader in the mobile phone retail market. The company's turnover at that time was $140 million per year.

What is the secret of a dizzying takeoff? Of course, the obvious commercial talents of the founders played a major role. But there was one more point that many entrepreneurs did not take into account. Chichvarkin considered (and still considers) it extremely important.

Let’s give the floor to the businessman himself: “No one in our urban world is willing to pay more for anything than for impressions.” A purchase - any purchase - should turn into a kind of show, performance, interactive action. Habitual move life, the “work-home-work” schedule should be diluted with something bright, provocative, loud. If you manage to advertise your product as such, success is guaranteed.

This is where all these shocking Euroset advertising campaigns came from: “Come naked and get a free phone!”, “Miss Breasts” and others of the same plan. There were advertising slogans that were on the verge of a foul, but they nevertheless fell perfectly on the ear and were perfectly remembered: “Not for ourselves, for everyone!”, “Euroset – the prices are just oh...!”.

Chichvarkin claimed that these slogans increased the company's awareness from 2 to 50%.

How Euroset went bankrupt

Everything was going quite smoothly until 2006, and suddenly there was a large-scale conflict with government officials: a large batch of Motorola phones belonging to Euroset was seized in Sheremetyevo. 167,500 copies worth 530 million rubles. was confiscated under the pretext that the products were not certified.

Almost simultaneously with this, the Ministry of Internal Affairs accuses the head of Euroset, Evgeny Chichvarkin, of kidnapping: manager Andrei Vlaskin, who has worked for the company for many years, has disappeared.

Both cases dragged on. As a result, it was established that Chichvarkin was not guilty of the disappearance of the manager, who turned out to be alive and well, moreover, he was attracted to cooperation by representatives of law enforcement agencies. They tried to persuade him to bring charges against the head of Euroset. Chichvarkin himself said that there really were problems with this employee; he was caught stealing products.

The second case was resolved as follows: the phones were recognized as meeting the requirements of certificates purchased on legally and the lot was returned to the owner. True, not all of them: 50 thousand phones “floated away” in an unknown direction. According to Evgeny Chichvarkin, they were simply appropriated and sold by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Subsequently, charges in both cases against the businessman were dropped. However, he had to pay a considerable price for his life and freedom: in 2008, he was forced to sell 100% of the Euroset company to representatives of the ANN investment group. Subsequently, the shares were purchased by the company Vympel-Communications.

Chichvarkin and the second owner Artemyev received 400 million rubles for the deal. However expert review showed that the real cost is immeasurably higher: about 1.2 billion rubles. In all likelihood, the businessmen decided to get at least some benefit, otherwise the company would simply be “squeezed out” from them without unnecessary ceremony.

Fearing continued persecution, Evgeny Chichvarkin and his family flee abroad and choose London as their permanent residence.

Emigration

Even before emigrating, Chichvarkin tried to establish contact with the authorities, even joining the pro-government Right Cause party. However, this was not successful.

The entrepreneur, having completed all his projects in Russia, hastily hides in the UK. As it turned out, his intuition did not let him down: in 2009, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against him. The government of England was asked to hand over the businessman to the Russian authorities, but the British side did not agree to this step.

The next year, a misfortune occurs, which Chichvarkin regarded as an action of the Russian authorities directly directed against him: the entrepreneur’s mother, who remained in Russia, dies at home in very strange circumstances: According to investigators, she fell and hit her head on the edge of the table.

Chichvarkin did not come to the funeral, realizing that in this case he would no longer be able to escape from the tenacious embrace of his Motherland. He is still firmly convinced that it was not an accident, but a murder, the purpose of which was to force him to come to Russia.

In 2011, Evgeny Chichvarkin directly addressed the then President of the country Dmitry Medvedev with accusations against representatives state power, which actually forced him to sell the company for next to nothing. At the same time, he speaks out against the inhumane regime of detention of prisoners in Russian prisons.

By 2011, the criminal trial against the businessman was stopped. This happened after the entrepreneur addressed not the head of state, but the highest dignitaries of the State Department. According to rumors, Vladimir Putin listened to the official’s report and gave instructions to close the case. The international search was also stopped.

Wine business

Finding himself in a new place, in conditions far from the usual Russian ones, the entrepreneur did not fall into depression and did not even think about giving up on himself. Instead he opened new business- began selling elite alcohol.

Today he owns a liquor store " Hedonism Wines" and a magnificent three-story restaurant " Hide" Interestingly, this restaurant has the largest wine list in all of London.

By the way, his reliable friend Timur Artemyev was not left with nothing: he became a co-owner of the wine business Hedonism Drinks Ltd. The wine boutique has 5.5 thousand types of excellent light alcohol and 3 thousand types of strong drinks. There are plenty to choose from!

Chichvarkin’s store is visited by both ordinary mortals and people you just wouldn’t meet on the street. Thus, he said in an interview that among his clients are representatives of the royal houses of the Old World, billionaires from Forbes list, and in addition, some mysterious personalities from the sanctions list.

Personal life

Chichvarkin does not like to talk too much about his personal life. Nevertheless, we know something: until 2016, the businessman was, as everyone thought, firmly and forever married. Antonina’s wife, who went through “fire, water and copper pipes” with her husband, bore him two children: a son, Yaroslav, and a daughter, Martha.

In 2016, the marriage unexpectedly broke up. And the next year, Evgeniy again tied himself to family ties: his work colleague, the director of a wine boutique owned by Chichvarkin, Tatyana Fokina, became his wife. The couple has a daughter.

State

According to some estimates, Chichvarkin's current net worth is about 118 million pounds (as of July 2018). Business is looking up again, with Hedonism Drinks Ltd's 2017 financial report saying it was a hugely successful year.

By May 2018, the pace of growth had become impressive, with revenue rising to £20.7 million. Profits amounted to £1.6 million.

Views on business and life

Perhaps the most complete picture of a person is formed after getting acquainted with his statements regarding various aspects of life and activity. Evgeny Chichvarkin attracts with his eccentricity - I want to know more about such an unusual personality.

This opportunity will be presented to anyone who decides to read Maxim Kotin’s book “Chichvarkin E...genius. If out of 100 times you are sent 99". It contains a frank, unembellished portrait of a former Russian entrepreneur, his entire biography, starting with early years and before the period dizzying success Euroset.

If you also dream, from scratch, to go to the start and soar to the skies, reaching the highest possible height, you should listen to some quotes from this book. No, Chichvarkin does not teach anyone on purpose, does not boast of his successes and does not consider himself entitled to give advice left and right. But he says very sensible things - they are really worthy of attention. Listen:

• On how to achieve success: “People work to get paid. Money is a means of achieving freedom. If money earned with pleasure allows you to fill your life with impressions and satisfy your passion for knowledge, life is good. If you work in such a way that you don’t see the white light, why are you working?”
• About business: “People are ready to pay for impressions. Shopping should be an adventure!”
• About religion: “I am interested in the study of religions. But I don’t believe in God, I’m an atheist and a materialist.”
• About the matter: “It’s better to be a results aholic – to work for results. Even better – a victoryaholic.”

Already these four phrases are enough for the first strokes to appear on the portrait of Evgeny Chichvarkin: this is a person who is confident in himself, relies on his own strength, is not afraid to take risks and knows how to achieve what he wants from life. Without a stretch, he can be called a victoryaholic - the result for him is more important than the process, he is used to striving to conquer ever new heights.

As for Chichvarkin’s economic and political views, he is a pronounced libertarian. What does it mean? It's simple: government intervention in the economy and other areas of life should be minimal. Personality is free and inviolable.

Contacts

If you want to contact Evgeny Chichvarkin, open Instagram or Facebook - he is there. But the social network “VKontakte” (read:) is not loved by businessmen: it has its own page, but there is a note on it that says: “I don’t communicate here, if you need something, go to the address...”

Whatever our attitude towards the extraordinary entrepreneur, his ability to rise from the ashes deserves sincere respect. Don’t be afraid, straighten your shoulders: you can also control a lot, you just don’t know yourself well yet!

Biography

Chichvarkin's father worked as a civilian pilot, and his mother worked as an engineer-economist at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade (later at the Ministry of Industry and Trade).

Evgeny Chichvarkin graduated from Moscow school No. 28 in 1991, and entered State Academy Management, which he graduated in 1996 with a diploma in "Economics of Motor Transport Management".

From 1996 to 1998, Chichvarkin studied at the graduate school of this academy.

During his studies, he began to actively engage in trading in clothing markets.

In April 1997, together with a friend Timur Artemyev Chichvarkin created the Euroset company.

Chichvarkin's first store, which had only a few mobile phones in its assortment, was opened on Leninsky Prospekt in Moscow.

In subsequent years, Euroset developed rapidly, rapidly expanding the network of its salons. In 2003, the company entered the regional market.

In 2006, a record number of new retail outlets were opened - 1976.

Chichvarkin persistently emphasized the bright and extraordinary image of the company. The company's sharp, "on the verge of a foul" advertising slogans ("Euroset - prices are just... crazy!", etc.) became an important marketing tool.

The company carried out scandalous campaigns and promotions, including “Take off your clothes for the phone.” The advertising face of the campaign was socialite.

In October 2005, Uralsib provided Euroset with a three-month loan for $50 million at 9.5% per annum with the ability to convert it into 7.53% of the company's shares.

In March 2006, Uralsib became a minority shareholder of Euroset, but in December Uralsib exercised the option to buy back shares and left the shareholders.

It soon became clear that the main factor in the rapid growth of Euroset's business was the non-payment or understatement of customs duties when importing mobile phones into Russia.

In 2005, Euroset found itself the object of attention from law enforcement agencies. On March 29, 2006, at the exit from the territory of Sheremetyevo customs, law enforcement officers seized 167,500 mobile phones of the Motorola C115 model, intended for the Euroset company, with a total value of 530 million rubles.

On April 26, it was reported that employees of the Moscow State Unitary Enterprise Promotkhody had begun destroying these mobile phones the day before. Euroset immediately stated that these phones were brought to Russia in compliance with all legal norms. But the regulatory authorities first declared the products smuggled, and a few days later - counterfeit (counterfeit).

On August 24, the criminal case was dismissed for lack of evidence of a crime, and 117,500 telephones were returned to Euroset.

On September 2, 2008, law enforcement officers conducted a search at the central office of the Euroset company, which was related to the investigation into the kidnapping of a former Euroset freight forwarder in 2003. Andrey Vlaskin, who was caught by the company's security service stealing cell phones.

On September 22, 2008, Chichvarkin and Timur Artemyev signed an agreement to sell 100% of Euroset to the investment company ANN, headed by an entrepreneur.

On October 24, 50% minus one share of Euroset was purchased from ANN by Vympel Communications (the sale transaction was completed on February 3, 2011).

On November 20, 2008, it became known that Chichvarkin left the post of chairman of the board of directors of Euroset.

In January 2009, the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office Russian Federation opened a criminal case against Chichvarkin. The investigation decided to bring Evgeny Chichvarkin as a defendant.

Chichvarkin was charged with Part 3 of Article 126 (kidnapping) and paragraphs “a”, “b” of Part 3 of Article 163 (extortion) of the Criminal Code.

In October 2011, Evgeny Chichvarkin was noted by the Russian version of Forbes magazine as one of the 9 most unusual Russian businessmen - madcaps, eccentrics and eccentrics.

Since March 2012, together with Timur Artemyev, Chichvarkin opened wine business"Hedonism Drinks Ltd", where the former is the owner of the company, and Chichvarkin is the main investor.

Policy

In 2008, Evgeny Chichvarkin came out in support Vladimir Putin And Dmitry Medvedev.

On November 16, 2008, Chichvarkin headed the still unregistered Moscow city branch of the Right Cause party, and was also appointed responsible for party branding.

On May 11, 2010, in his blog in the Snob project, Chichvarkin published an appeal to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he again accused the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs of intimidation and extortion of money from him for the sale of the Euroset company in 2008, and also accused the penitentiary system of keeping prisoners in inhumane conditions.

On May 30, 2010, during the Moscow Tea Party rally, held by the Libertarian Party of Russia, a telephone direct line was organized with Chichvarkin.

On August 31, 2010, Chichvarkin took part in a rally in defense of Article 31 of the Russian Constitution in front of the Russian Embassy in London.

Rumors, scandals

On April 3, 2010, Chichvarkin’s 60-year-old mother, Lyudmila Chichvarkina, found dead at home. According to the conclusion of forensic experts, Chichvarkina fell and hit her temple on the edge of the table, but Evgeniy Chichvarkin believes that it was murder.

In January 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation dropped the criminal case against Chichvarkin. However, Chichvarkin said that he was afraid to return to Russia because of the possibility of new persecution.

In April 2016, Chichvarkin announced plans to engage in positioning and branding of the Open Russia organization.

Chichvarkin has repeatedly stated that he was a supporter of the Ukrainian Euromaidan and opposed the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. After the change of power in Ukraine in 2014, Chichvarkin turned to the President of Ukraine with a request to include him in the “team of reformers.”

In July 2015, Chichvarkin met with the Prime Minister of Ukraine.

On April 18, 2016, Evgeny Chichvarkin held a press conference in London, which was broadcast to the press center of the Moscow branch of Open Russia.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky said that he and Chichvarkin advocate the unification of all political forces in the country under the slogan of regular changes of power.

Chichvarkin said that he would position the Open Russia organization, the founder of which is Khodorkovsky. He said he would "work on the program, branding and positioning of the organization."

Chichvarkin openly called on Russians for a “color revolution”:

“There is no need to be afraid of color revolutions. The Georgian revolution was absolutely bloodless, the first Maidan brought freedom of speech and allowed the second Maidan. This political process, without which we cannot live", - said the dissident.

Creation successful business is the same act of art as sculpting a sculpture or painting a picture. It’s easy to see this by looking at the success stories of major entrepreneurs. This article will talk about one of them. We will tell you who Evgeny Chichvarkin is and why he can safely be called a genius.

Biography of a businessman before emigration

The life of one of the most eccentric Russian businessmen is full of bright events:

1. He was born in 1974 in Moscow (according to other sources, in St. Petersburg) into an intelligent family. Father is an aviator, mother is an employee of the Trade Ministry. According to Eugene himself, his ancestors had Finno-Ugric roots;
2. He received his secondary education at Moscow school No. 28. For the next seven years he studied at the State Academy of Management (specialist and postgraduate studies);
3. While studying at the university, he began to study entrepreneurial activity. Like many in the early 90s, I stood at the market and sold clothes;
4. After graduating from graduate school, he decided to start selling mobile phones that had just appeared in the country at that time. To this end, he teamed up with his old friend in 1997 opened a store Euroset» ;
5. Over five years, 92 retail outlets were opened under this brand in Moscow alone. By 2007, more than 5,000 branches operated in 12 CIS and Baltic countries. Such commercial success made Chichvarkin the owner of a fortune of $1.6 billion;

But this celebration of life in Russia could not last long.

Why did Chichvarkin leave Russia?

Growing commercial and political weight led to conflict with those in power, because of which Evgeniy even had to leave Russia.

But first things first:

• In August 2005, the businessman was accused of illegally importing goods worth $100 million into the country, but after some time the charges were dropped. Thus, the werewolves in uniform made it clear that for peaceful life one must share generously;
• The following year, a batch of phones from the world-famous manufacturer Motorola was detained allegedly due to non-compliance with sanitary and epidemiological standards. The management of Euroset regarded such a step as raiding;
• In March 2007, an information war against the company began in the pro-government media. It was alleged that there was tax evasion on a particularly large scale;
• In September 2008, searches began at the organization's headquarters. Under pressure from the security forces, 100% of Euroset shares were sold to an entrepreneur more accommodating to the authorities Alexandru Mamutu at a price several times lower than the market price;
• As Chichvarkin himself stated in an interview with Yuri Dudu (video at the end of the article), the real reason The pressure on him was his reluctance to give part of the profits to money-hungry corrupt officials. And in 2009 he moves to London, where he still resides.

Political activity of a businessman

A talented person is talented in everything. This truth is easy to verify by looking at political career mobile phone dealer:

• In anticipation presidential elections In 2008, he openly supported the candidacy of Dmitry Medvedev. The businessman then naively pinned his hopes on changes if a relatively young manager arrived;
• Also in 2008, he became the head of the new liberal-capitalist party “Right Cause”. However, he did not remain in this role for long: leaving Russia prevented him from carrying out party work;
• While already in England, Chichvarkin published an open letter online addressed to the President of Russia, in which he complained about raiding by security forces and the lawlessness of the law enforcement system in the Russian Federation;
• In 2010, he took part in the Moscow Tea Party project (an analogue of the far-right American project"Boston Tea Party") Unable to visit the country, he gave his speech remotely;
• He also openly supported the civil movement “Strategy-31”, aimed at protecting freedom of assembly;
• In the Crimean crisis he openly sided with Ukraine. Moreover, for some time he planned to join the new government of the country (but the plans never came true).

Who killed Chichvarkin's mother?

In April 2010, the businessman was struck by terrible news: his mother was found dead in a Moscow apartment:

• It was determined that death was caused by impact with a blunt object. The investigators believed that this was the corner of the table;
• According to anonymous sources, the woman had an addiction to the bottle. An autopsy showed changes in the body characteristic of alcoholics. She probably had a hard time parting with her son;
• Initially, investigators did not put forward a version of violent death. But the son from London, who had repeatedly received threats from security forces against him, refused to trust the justice authorities;
• The lawyers sent a request to the prosecutor's office to further investigate the case, which was done in August 2010;
• Currently the death of Lyudmila Chichvarkina remains a mystery . Official version says everything happened accidentally. But among critics of the current government, there is an opinion about a political contract killing. The corrupt elite allegedly took revenge on the disgraced entrepreneur, who was well hidden abroad.

To make the portrait of a businessman more complete, let’s add a few bright touches from the facts of his biography:

1. When choosing between health and money, he chooses the latter. In one of his interviews, he admitted that back in the 90s he stood in the cold for the sake of immediate profit. Because of this reckless act, he froze some of his fingers so that they have now lost sensitivity;
2. He never hid the fact that he was involved in smuggling. According to him, all market participants are guilty of trading in “gray” phones in the early 2000s, and he is no exception;
3. He also openly admitted the fact of giving bribes to people in uniform. Without this, as Chichvarkin assures, it is impossible to conduct business in our country;
4. Despite living far from his native place, he remains a patriot and still does not participate in any way in local English life. And all because of hopes for change in Russia and possible return in the distant future;
5. He named . And it’s not just the latter’s brilliant business strategy, but also his ability to look great at his age.
6. Businessman conducts his Instagram page, he has more than 180 thousand subscribers.

What is Chichvarkin doing now?

For about a couple of years, the businessman lived in England solely on personal savings. But his business spirit allowed him to get used to the new place:

• In August 2012 he opens a wine store " Hedonism Wines" From the very first days the establishment gained fame favorite place London elite;
• A former employee works on the team of the alcohol boutique " Harrods", the legendary department store of the English capital. Also among the employees there are Italians, Chinese, Spaniards, French, Scandinavians and, of course, Russians;
• The volume of initial capital investment amounted to several tens of millions in foreign currency. What profit the store brings to its owner is one of the most slippery topics, to which he prefers to answer very evasively;
• According to popular opinion, a liquor store is nothing more than a hobby that brightens up the life of an expat. Despite the lack of high margins, the boutique is a magnet for celebrities, including Russian-speaking ones.

In addition to selling expensive wine, Chichvarkin continues to engage in social activities. In particular, in August 2017, he launched a campaign to raise money in support of the presidential candidacy of Alexei Navalny.

This person could safely count on receiving the title of “Hero of Capitalist Labor”, if such a thing existed. After all, for more than 20 years he has been equally good at selling clothes, telephones, and alcohol. This is who Evgeny Chichvarkin is, who, like many talented Russians, was forced to leave his homeland. But he still hopes for the return and future transformation of the country.

Video: E. Chichvarkin visiting Dudya

In this video, the businessman himself, in an interview with Yuri Dudu, will tell you why he had to leave Russia and under what circumstances he had to sell the business:

Evgeny Chichvarkin- Russian entrepreneur. Co-founder and former co-owner chain of salons cellular communication"Euroset".

Evgeny Chichvarkin
Occupation: businessman, politician
Date of birth: September 10, 1974
Place of Birth:
Leningrad, USSR
Country Russia

Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Chichvarkin(September 10, 1974, Leningrad) - Russian entrepreneur. Co-founder and former co-owner of the Euroset network of cellular communication stores. Since the end of 2008 he has lived in the UK, where he has a business. For some time he was the leader of the Moscow branch of the opposition party “Union of Right Forces”.
In October 2011, Evgeny Chichvarkin was noted by Anastasia Zhokhova, editor of the Russian version of Forbes magazine, as one of the 9 most unusual Russian businessmen - madcaps, eccentrics and eccentrics.

Evgeny Chichvarkin born September 10, 1974. By his own admission, he was “physically born” in Leningrad. Most sources indicate Moscow as the city of birth (direct quote from Chichvarkin: “Formally, I was born in Leningrad, but registered in Moscow (my mother is a Leningrader, my father is a Muscovite)”). His father worked as a civilian pilot, and his mother worked as an engineer-economist at the USSR Ministry of Foreign Trade (later at the Ministry of Industry and Trade). Speaking about ethnic roots, Chichvarkin indicated that his great-great-grandfather was a Moksha.

After graduating from Moscow school No. 28 in 1991, Chichvarkin entered the State Academy of Management, from which he graduated in 1996, receiving a diploma in “Economics of Motor Transport Management.” At the same time, he was engaged in trading in clothing markets.
From 1996 to 1998 he studied at the academy's graduate school.

Management of the Euroset company
On April 2, 1997, together with his friend Timur Artemyev, he created the Euroset company, which later became the largest Russian cellular retailer.
On September 2, 2008, law enforcement officers conducted a search in the central office of the Euroset company, which was related to the investigation into the kidnapping of former Euroset freight forwarder Andrei Vlaskin in 2003, according to Chichvarkin’s defense, who was convicted by the company’s security service of stealing cell phones. On September 22, 2008, together with Timur Artemyev, he signed an agreement on the sale of 100% of the Euroset company to the investment company ANN, headed by entrepreneur Alexander Mamut.[ On October 24, 50% minus one share of the Euroset company was acquired from the ANN company by Vympel-Communications . The sale transaction was completed on February 3, 2011.

In 2008, he came out in support of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.
On November 16, 2008, Chichvarkin headed the still unregistered Moscow city branch of the Right Cause party. He was also put in charge of the party's branding.

On November 20, 2008, it became known that Chichvarkin left the post of chairman of the board of directors of Euroset.

Emigration
Before he left the country, he lived on Rublyovka in Zhukovka. On December 22, 2008, I flew to London. In January 2009, the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation opened a criminal case against Chichvarkin.
On March 2, 2010, he announced that he was asking to no longer be associated with the Right Cause party, since it was not possible to work in the project from abroad.
On April 3, 2010, Chichvarkin’s 60-year-old mother, Lyudmila Chichvarkina, was found dead at home. According to the preliminary conclusion of forensic experts, Chichvarkina fell and hit her temple on the edge of the table, but Evgeny Chichvarkin believes that it was murder.

On May 11, 2010, in his blog in the Snob project, he published an appeal to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he again accused the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs of intimidation and extorting money from him for the sale of the Euroset company in 2008, and also accused the penitentiary system of maintaining prisoners in inhumane conditions - former leader The security services of Euroset Boris Levin discovered hepatitis C during his imprisonment since 2008.
On May 30, 2010, during the Moscow Tea Party rally, held by the Libertarian Party of Russia, a telephone direct line was organized with Chichvarkin, during which he supported the action in defense of a free economy.
On August 31, 2010, Chichvarkin took part in a rally in defense of Article 31 of the Russian Constitution in front of the Russian Embassy in London.

In January 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation dropped the criminal case against Chichvarkin. However, Chichvarkin said he was afraid to return to Russia due to the possibility of new persecution.

Since March 2012, together with his friend Timur Artemyev, they opened the wine business “Hedonism Drinks Ltd” in London, where Timur is the owner of the company, and Chichvarkin is the main investor.
At the end of 2012, he stated that he might return to Russia “in 5-6 years”; but only if the current regime is changed.
In April 2016, he announced plans to engage in positioning and branding of the Open Russia organization.

Criminal prosecution
On January 14, 2009, the investigation issued a decision to bring Evgeny Chichvarkin as a defendant. He was charged with Part 3 of Article 126 (kidnapping) and paragraphs “a”, “b” of Part 3 of Article 163 (extortion) of the Criminal Code. At the end of December and beginning of January, Chichvarkin was sent several times summonses for questioning, but since the investigation was unable to contact him, he was accused in absentia. After this, he was put on the federal wanted list.

On January 28, 2009, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow authorized the arrest of Chichvarkin in absentia. 2nd of March judicial panel The Moscow City Court decided to leave the decision of the Basmanny Court unchanged, and the cassation appeals of the lawyers - without satisfaction[.
On March 12, Chichvarkin was put on the international wanted list.

On June 17, 2009, the Prosecutor General's Office sent a request to the UK to extradite Chichvarkin. On August 27, Westminster Magistrates' Court issued an arrest warrant requiring him to appear in court. On September 7, Chichvarkin was forcibly brought to court, but on the same day he was released on bail in the amount of 100,000 pounds sterling.
On September 22, extradition hearings were held, the judge scheduled a trial on the merits for December 1, Chichvarkin was again released on the previously posted bail of 100,000 pounds sterling, and his documents entitling him to travel abroad were confiscated.
On 1 December, Westminster Magistrates' Court adjourned the extradition hearing to 2 August 2010, granting the defense's request for additional time for translation from Russian into English. large quantity documents on the case, as well as preparing a list of witnesses whom the lawyers intend to call to court.

On August 2, 2010, Westminster Magistrates' Court adjourned the hearing on Chichvarkin's extradition case to September 13. On September 13, Westminster Magistrates' Court scheduled the main hearing in the Chichvarkin extradition case for March 21, 2011.

On January 24, 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation dropped the criminal case against Chichvarkin, on January 26, the international search for him was stopped, and on February 17, the Westminster Magistrates Court closed the extradition case.

Views
Adheres to libertarian economic and political views. At Dmitry Medvedev’s inauguration, Evgeny gave him Ayn Rand’s novel “Atlas Shrugged.” In his blog in 2008 he wrote about this novel:

Ayn Rand "Atlas Shrugged" I would like to say something special about this book. This is truly the Bible of entrepreneurship. It took 12 years to write by our former compatriot Alisa Rosenbaum and was published in 1957. I think this is the most powerful work, both in its essence and in its meaning, written in the 20th century. Despite the fact that the novel is really very long, it is in constant demand. Over all these years, more than 5 million copies have been sold and more than 100 thousand copies are still sold per year. It is impossible to tell briefly, but the main idea is that the capitalist system, in essence, is not only a system of the highest justice, but also the highest morality. The novel describes an epic fantasy of how social populists came to power in the United States, leading the country into chaos, famine and civil war. The abdication of responsibility is described very realistically, lower and lower in the railway management structure, from the boss to the drunk driver, which leads to a terrible tragedy in the tunnel. Very similar to Russian regions during the collapse of the Soviet system. Ayn Rand took 5 years to write John Galt's final speech. It reflects the concept of rational egoism and individualism.
Ayn Rand's fans include Alan Greenspan and Ronald Reagan. And among several million more people - people with incomes of more than a million dollars in the United States - this book is more popular than the Bible. I highly recommend reading this brilliant work. In Euroset this book can also be read during the working day.