Alexandre Gaydamak

Alexandre "Sacha" Gaydamak (in Hebrew: אלכסנדר גאידמק; born May 1976, France) is a French-Israeli businessman. A member of the wealthy Gaydamak family, he is the only son of Arcadi Gaydamak.

In January 2006, he followed in his father's footsteps by acquiring a stake in an association football club, becoming co-owner of Portsmouth F.C. of the Premier League alongside Milan Mandarić.

His father, Arcadi Gaydamak, was the owner of Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem. In July 2006, Alexandre Gaydamak became the sole owner of Portsmouth F.C., although Mandarić remained at the club as non-executive chairman until the end of that year. Gaydamak owns a Luxembourg-based company, Belvia SARL, and a British Virgin Islands company, Devondale Investments, which was the holding company for Portsmouth F.C.

On July 21, 2009, Gaydamak agreed in principle to sell Portsmouth F.C. to Sulaiman Al Fahim, stepping down from the board of directors. He remained the legal owner of the club until the details of the sale were finalized on June 8, 2009.

It has been alleged that Gaydamak stripped Portsmouth F.C. of its assets before this sale and still maintains a claim, said to be worth £32 million, against the club as a creditor, despite its huge debts. Investigations into these allegations are ongoing.

On October 22, 2010, Gaydamak's business reputation came under scrutiny after it was reported that he had demanded payment from his former club, Portsmouth F.C., in the amount of £2.5 million. It appears he was uncertain about recovering the unpaid debt. The case became even more controversial after Portsmouth F.C. received repeated confirmations from Gaydamak himself that the terms were agreed and that he was a secured creditor, meaning he would be repaid in full and ahead of many unsecured creditors, who would only receive 20% of any outstanding debt.