Vladimir Viktorovich Vinogradov (Russian Владимир Викторович Виноградов; 19 September 1955 — 29 June 2008) was the owner and president of Inkombank, one of the largest banks in 90s' Russia.
He took a leading role in the Komsomol, the Communist Youth organisation, and was given the opportunity to continue his studies at the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics, becoming the Promstroybank's chief economist in 1988.
[3] In April 1992 Vinogradov declared his support for Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the city government, defending them from accusations of corruption.
The declaration was endorsed by other figures on the financial scene, including Vladimir Gusinsky, Leonid Nevzlin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who formed an influential economic group known as PPI, which Vinogradov led from 1993.
[4][9] In 1994 with approval from both Boris Nemtsov and Anatoly Chubais, Natasha Gurfinkel Kagalovsky illegally sent $2 million from Bank of New York (BONY) accounts to accounts of the bankrupt Investment Commercial Bank (ICB) "Nizhegorodets" (Russian: инвестиционно-коммерческого банка (ИКБ) "Нижегородец"), which momentarily was saved from insolvency, requiring Viktor Zaburdyaev (Russian: Виктор Забурдяев), director of "Nizhpoligraf" (Russian: "Нижполиграф"), to return the money to BONY by taking a loan from Inkombank illegally using the state owned "Nizhpoligraf" building as security.
In return for taking the loan from Inkombank, Zaburdyaev's company became a shareholder in Nizhegorodskaya Yarmarka JSC (Russian: АО "Нижегородская ярмарка").
[15] According to CBS Money Watch, Vinogradov had a reputation for openness and fair dealing as well as for making impulsive and politically unwise statements.
Inkombank also had an industrial portfolio that included a minority stake in jet-fighter maker Sukhoi and control of aluminum fabricator Samara Metallurgical.
In 1995 Vinogradov acquired the Babayev chocolate factory, in Russia's first hostile stock market takeover, a deal praised for its transparency and fairness: Even after he had gained 50 per cent of the shares, he offered the same terms to minority shareholders.
[22] To support the theft, Natasha Kagalovsky (née Gurfinkel) forged Bank of New York and Inkombank documents which were backdated with faked contracts.