Paul Edward Tatum (April 2, 1955 – November 3, 1996) was an American expatriate businessman assassinated in a Moscow metro station close to his hotel.
[citation needed] During the attempted coup in Russia in the summer of 1991, Tatum had supplied president Boris Yeltsin's only link to the outside world by giving him satellite linkage from a government building in Moscow, which was surrounded by army units trying to overthrow his fledgling democratic government.
[citation needed] Tatum had numerous disputes with his hotel partner Umar Dzhabrailov, at one point taking out a full page ad in a local Moscow newspaper alleging Dzhabrailov was blackmailing Tatum and trying to force him out of the hotel joint venture.
Shortly after Tatum's death, Dzhabrailov and the Moscow city government quickly took over complete control of the hotel joint venture.
[citation needed] Carol Williams investigated the Tatum murder for the Los Angeles Times and after concluding it had likely been a contract killing, she got a call from someone who told her it was "unhealthy to pursue certain avenues of inquiry".