Nevzlin was tried in absentia in Russia in March 2008, found guilty of several counts of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 1987, he met Mikhail Khodorkovsky and became a deputy director at the Center for Scientific and Technical Creativity of the Youth (MENATEP), attached to the Komsomol committee in Moscow's Frunzensky District.

From 1989 to 1991, Nevzlin served as president of the bank, after which he held other high-ranking positions, including vice chairman of the board (1993-1996) and head of public relations (1994-1996).

[2] From September 1997 to October 1998, Nevzlin served as first deputy director general of the Russian news agency ITAR TASS, creating a plan to gradually transform it into a joint-stock company.

[5] Nevzlin is a co-owner and board member of Haaretz, one of Israel's liberal newspaper publishers, having purchased a 20% stake in the company in 2011 for 140 million shekels.

[3] In 2014, Nevzlin founded the monthly Hebrew-language magazine Liberal, which publishes analyses of Israeli political life, communications and culture.

[6] In 2003, following prolonged clashes with the Kremlin, Yukos' controlling shareholder, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and another senior executive, Platon Lebedev, were arrested on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

[7][8][9] Khodorkovsky was found guilty and the sentence for tax evasion and fraud was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights for the same affair.

In 2004 the Russian Prosecutor General's Office sought Nevzlin's extradition over hotly disputed criminal allegations against him related to his tenure at Yukos.

A spokesman for Nevzlin stated in reaction to the extradition request, "Amnesty International, the European Parliament, and the court in the UK, are only some of the bodies that have found that Russian president Vladimir Putin is persecuting Mikhail Khodorovsky, Leonid Nevzlin, and the other shareholders in Yukos, who dared to support democratic opposition parties and openly come out against him.

[6] Nevzlin was tried in absentia in Russia in March 2008, found guilty of several counts of conspiracy to murder[12][13][14] and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Early news reports indicated that the former Yukos investors would seek redress by asking U.S. and EU courts to seize Russian-owned assets on their own territories.

[17] Nevzlin was awarded the Order of Friendship, one of the Russian Federation's highest honors, for his efforts in supporting Boris Yeltsin's reelection campaign in 1996.

[3] In collaboration with the Israeli government, Nevzlin created a relief fund in 2004 to revive Beit Hatfutsot – the Museum of the Jewish People, located on the campus of Tel Aviv University, and was elected chairman of its International Board of governors.