Elena Kotova
Elena Kotova | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 21, 1956 Moscow, Russia |
| Occupation(s) | Author, interior designer, private real estate entrepreneur, former banking executive |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Known for | International banking roles (1994–2010), author, real estate entrepreneurship |
Elena Kotova (born November 21, 1956) is a Russian author, interior designer, and private real estate entrepreneur. Between 1994 and 2010, she occupied high-ranking international banking positions across Russia, the United States, and Europe. In 2013, she faced accusations of bribery solicitation and was handed a suspended five-year prison term in 2014.
Biography
Born in Moscow to Victor and Natalia Kotova, Elena pursued her education at Moscow State University. From 1982 until 1989, she conducted research on socio-economic topics related to Asia and global finance at the USSR Academy of Science, producing two monographs alongside more than 50 scholarly articles.
In 1990, Kotova was elected as a deputy to the Moscow City Council and led its economic policy committee. She then directed the Moscow State Property Agency from 1990 to 1992, managing privatization efforts. Following that, from 1993 to 1997, she was employed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
Kotova held executive roles at prominent Russian financial institutions such as Vnesheconombank, Most Bank, MBRD, and Vneshtorgbank (VTB) from 1998 through 2005. Subsequently, between 2005 and 2010, she acted as the Russian government’s appointed director on the board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
In 2010, the EBRD launched an internal probe into Kotova regarding corruption allegations. By the end of that year, the matter was passed on to law enforcement agencies in London and Russia. She was formally charged in Moscow in January 2013 with soliciting a bribe amounting to US$1.4 million; Kotova refuted all accusations. After prosecutors ordered a psychiatric assessment in March 2013, she was sentenced in 2014 to a suspended five-year term—a sentence later revoked under amnesty provisions.
Prior to moving to Berlin, Kotova lived in Moscow. She has been married to Nick Zimin since 1985 and is a mother of one son as well as grandmother to two grandchildren. Additionally, she has published six novels.
On March 23, 2016, the High Court mandated that Kotova relinquish assets suspected of being linked to criminal activity, including a Mayfair apartment valued at £1.5 million and £230,000 confiscated by the National Crime Agency.