How a girl from a Russian orphanage became the richest woman in the world
'01.01.2019'
Source: Rambler
Margarita Bogdanova’s fortune is currently estimated at 8,5 billion dollars. Today, she is considered the richest Russian woman in the world and is far from the last place among men on the famous Forbes list. This is actually surprising, especially when you consider that the orphan Margarita was brought up in an ordinary Soviet orphanage.
There was no disaster?
The official biography of Margarita Bogdanova, though not replete with events, but squeezes a tear, writes Rambler. According to Bogdanova herself, when she was 10 years old, her parents died in a train accident. Margarita got into an orphanage, from where her grandfather subsequently took her. Together with him, the future billionaire has lived in an ordinary Leningrad communal apartment for several years.
However, this period in the life of Margarita Bogdanova among journalists caused not only great interest, but also distrust. The first fact discovered by media representatives pointed out that Bogdanova simply composed his autobiography. It turned out that in the year indicated by the woman, not a single accident in the railway transport was recorded. This finding has given journalists confidence that they are on the right track.
Criminal father and non-existent MSU
According to archival documents, the father of Margarita Bogdanova, Oleg Ivanov, has been in prison several times. Then, when the "disaster" occurred, he just once again went to jail. Apparently, the girl also did not need a mother, so Margarita was identified in one of the Leningrad boarding schools. And in this both stories converge. But then again fictional events follow.
Grandfather Bogdanova never took her from an orphanage, but only occasionally visited her. Margarita graduated from the school in a boarding school. Then she entered the Moscow State University. At least, that’s the biography of the dollar billionaire. However, thanks to journalistic investigations, it is known that Bogdanova graduated only from the college of commerce.
Swiss and meeting in the plane
Still, education in the history of Margarita Bogdanova did not play a decisive role. Much more influence on the fate of the richest Russian woman had a knowledge of foreign languages, which she studied independently in the hope of meeting with a citizen of another state and escape from the USSR. Thanks to such dedication, Bogdanova got a job as a tour guide and once met a Swiss student. He fell in love with Margarita and took her to his homeland. And here the most interesting begins.
A year later, Bogdanova divorced the Swiss and almost immediately met with the owner of a giant business, Robert Louis-Dreyfus, absolutely by chance. This fateful event took place in 1988, in the first class of the aircraft, en route from Paris to New York. However, the story is silent about what a resident of Switzerland in Paris did and where she got a pretty sum for a ticket to the United States.
Death husband and new family
But be that as it may, this meeting took place. According to Bogdanova herself, she did not even realize that she was a millionaire. In 1992, Margarita got married, acquired a new, louder name, Louis-Dreyfus, and gave birth to her husband's 3 sons. However, Robert did not long rejoice acquired happiness. In 2009, he died from cancer. Margarita inherited all his fortune.
Nevertheless, we must pay tribute to Bogdanova, she was able not only to save, but also increase the money of the deceased spouse. And the second husband of Margarita was not anyone, but the famous Swiss banker Philip Hildebrand. In 2016, Madame Louis-Dreyfus surprised everyone again: the 53-year-old billionaire gave birth to a new spouse of twin girls.
