Gafur Rakhimov
Gafur-Arslanbek Akhmedovich Rakhimov (Russian: Гафур-Арсланбек Ахмедович Раги́мов) [1] (born July 22, 1951) is an Uzbek businessman and alleged organized crime figure, with strong ties to drug trafficking and the President, Islam Karimov.
Rakhimov was born July 22, 1951 in Tashkent. He took up boxing as a youth and later moved on to coaching. After Uzbekistan's independence in 1991, he set up several commercial enterprises, which included trading in both raw materials and finished consumer goods. He also became a prominent figure in Central Asian boxing, and in 2001 and again in 2005 was elected Vice-President of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan.[2]
He is alleged to have substantial ties to Uzbekistan's underworld, and along with Kamchybek Kolbayev is considered one of Central Asia's most influential drug traffickers. In 2012, the US Department of the Treasury put financial sanctions on Rakhimov and several other individuals, accused of being part of the so-called Brothers' Circle criminal organization.[3] He has also been associated with billionaire Alisher Usmanov, although Usmanov denies any serious relationship, illicit or otherwise, between the two men.[4]