Paul Tatum

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Paul Edward Tatum (April 2, 1955 – November 3, 1996) was an American expatriate businessman assassinated in a Moscow metro station close to his hotel.[1][2]

Tatum was operating a Hotel Joint Venture with a Chechen businessman named Umar Dzhabrailov.[3][4]

Tatum founded the Americom Business Centre and became part-owner of the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel, an upscale hotel in Moscow, which catered to foreign businessmen and high-end guests. On April 7, 1995, Tatum was barred from entering the hotel by his estranged business partners in a battle for control of the business.[5]

Tatum was born in Edmond, Oklahoma and travelled to Russia in 1985, involving himself in various business activities. He reportedly knew President Clinton, who was a regular guest of his hotel while visiting Russia on state visits.[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. A few weeks later he was gunned down and shot 11 times in the head and neck. Tatum suspected he would be the target of a Mafia hit, and was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of his attack. 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 in the government who told her it was "unhealthy to pursue certain avenues of inquiry".[6]

Tatum was interred in Kuntsevo Cemetery, Moscow.[7]

References[]

  1. ^ Rubin, Julia. "Murder in Moscow Ends Dream of an American Entrepreneur", Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1996.
  2. ^ Browder, Bill (2015). Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1476755717.
  3. ^ U.S. Entrepreneur Is Gunned Down in Moscow. New York Times. November 4, 1996.
  4. ^ Arvedlund, Erin and Maria Atanasov. MURDER IN MOSCOW WHEN PAUL TATUM'S JOINT VENTURE IN MOSCOW BEGAN TO GO SOUR, OMINOUS THINGS STARTED TO HAPPEN. INSTEAD OF FLEEING, HE TOOK A CHANCE: IF HE SPOKE OUT LOUDLY ENOUGH FOR THE RIGHTS OF INVESTORS, HE FIGURED, HE'D BE SAFE., Fortune.com, March 3, 1997.
  5. ^ Thrills and spills at Moscow Hotel of Presidents, The Independent, August 15, 1995.
  6. ^ Verini, James. "Lost Exile".
  7. ^ Imaging Russia 2000: film and facts By Anna M. Lawton p. 105 at Google Books

External links[]

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