Russian tycoon convicted, sentenced to 9 years

Associated Press
Published Wednesday, June 01, 2005

MOSCOW -- Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was Russia's richest man before the government dismantled his empire, was convicted Tuesday of fraud and tax evasion.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison following a trial widely denounced as politically motivated.

The court also ordered Khodorkovsky and his co-defendant, Platon Lebedev, to pay a total of more than $615 million in taxes and penalties.

Khodorkovsky, 41, the former head of the Yukos oil company, looked straight ahead as the sentence was pronounced. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum 10 years.

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