Termed “the first female oligarch”, Goga Ashkenazi made her first fortune in oil and gas before moving into fashion after buying Vionnet in 2012. Originally from southern Kazakhstan, Stowe, Rugby and Oxford educated Ashkenazi’s “close friends” and companions have variously numbered The Duke of York, Fiat heir Lapo Elkann and Saif Gaddafi, the second son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Of her humble origins, she once commented: “I’m sensitive to what people think of me, because, I admit it, I was tacky at first”. She now lives in a much more sophisticated world, paid £28 million in cash for a house in Holland Park in 2007 and then spent a further £10 million on renovations. In 2010, this divorced mother of two was termed “definitely not a lady who lunches” by the businessman Rob Hersov. “She is the real deal”, he added, before remarking: “She was in the right place at the right time and made a lot of money very quickly”.
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Readers have their say
8 comments
She is very much misunderstood. She is bright and brilliant and successful. I love what she has done with Vionnet.
Oh do shut up, you foolish creature. She has been helped by a bunch of her crooked and corrupt compatriots
Another one who has got rich whilst the poor get poorer in her homeland. Shame on her.
She looks like a more successful version of Lady Catherine Meyer than anything else. Social climbing is the forte of such specimens as the pair of these women.
Where is our friend Ms. Gillian Trott? Fresh meat here.
You are a rude man. Mrs Ashkenazi should give some of her vast wealth to the Find Madeleine campaign and you ought to also. Dear Gerry and Kate McCann need the help of wealthy people so they can find their beloved daughter and it is time that The Steeple Times supported this. Shame on you all. FIND MADELEINE, FIND HER NOW.
Mrs Ashkenazi owes her fortune to the fact that for many years has been the official mistress of Kazakhstan’s President son in law , whim whom she has the children. She has no doubt been very good at networking and closing lucrative deals . I think nobody here is under any illusion where the 28 mil came from .
Whether such career path should be condoned or applauded , it is all about moral standards , and whether integrity is valued about money. Clearly, m any people in the London “society” of today , chose to turn a blind eye to the origins of the money as long as they can somehow benefit from it themselves.
Mariathena is spot on.
Mrs Askenazi is just the sort of person that the dreadful Prince Andrew would be friends with.
London society today is open to any Tom, Dick and Harry with money.
I would certainly not send my son to any boarding school within a 100 mile radius of London, infested as they are, by children whom I would not wish my son to be influenced by.