Mikhail Prokhorov fathered the former chairman of Russia's largest gold producer.
 These businessmen also bankrolled Yeltsin's 1996 presidential election victory, exerting their influence over the then president
 During the largely un-regulated privatization of former state-controlled industries after the collapse of the USSR, Prokhorov and Potanin (the latter by then a deputy prime minister who oversaw privatization) were able acquire the shares from the workers of Norilsk Nickel for a fraction of their estimated market value and seize ownership of the company

