(Russian: Тимур Сапир, birth name Temur Sepiashvili, Georgian:
is an American immigrant from the former Soviet republic of Georgia
who made millions bartering fertilizer and oil with the Soviets in the
1980s. Tamir is in The 400 Richest Americans.
He and his family (mother and young wife) emigrated to Israel in 1973
but in that time the Yom Kippur War emerged and Sapir (he changed his
last name in Israel) moved to the United States. He traded electronics
for oil contracts, which he then sold to American companies. Investing
the profits in Manhattan real estate in the 1990s, he became a
billionaire by 2002. He is known as the father of modern Russia.
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What Did He Do?
He smuggled in exotic animal skins, forbidden ivory sculptures, and
countless animal trophies.
Why Does A Billionaire Do This?
Why smuggle in $150,000 worth of contraband when you could buy it for
$250,000 in America? Obviously he bought this for pennies, but the real
reason is "They do it because it's what they do!". Why did the
Palm Beach billionaire Jonathan Epstein pay 13 year-old high school
girls for sex, when he could have brought in Ukrainian teens for a plane
ticket? Why do Israeli snipers shoot pregnant women?
