Maxwells' star shines in the East: Saga of the rising sons: Ian and Kevin follow well trodden path into Russia
The Guardian (London, England)
Byline: LISA BUCKINGHAM, CELIA WESTON, DAVID GOW and RICHARD NORTON-TAYLOR
LIKE peas out of a tarnished pod, Kevin and Ian Maxwell have turned their business skills towards publishing, television . . . and Russia.
Their father, the discredited media tycoon, Robert Maxwell, was born in Czechoslovakia and always maintained strong links with eastern Europe even when that meant endorsing some of the region's most reviled regimes.He spoke six east European languages, and claimed to be a trusted associate of the former Soviet chief, Mikhail Gorbachev.
Now two of his sons, who were routinely humiliated by their father when they worked as hired hands in his media empire, are ploughing the same furrow.
They are working in what is described as a freelance capacity for Westbourne Communications, a central London consultancy run by Jean Baddeley - Robert Maxwell's long-standing secretary - which has a number of projects in the former Soviet Union. It is said to pay them up to Pounds 30,000 a year each - almost certainly a gross under-estimate.
Chief among Westbourne's projects is a plan to set up a satellite TV operation for 150 million viewers in partnership with the state-controlled All-Russian Television and Radio. But the junior Maxwells have already been involved with Maximov Publications in producing a Who's Who of top Russians retailing at Pounds 100.
Ian is listed as an editorial director and is a constant visitor to its Moscow offices.
At one time they were working with Nordex, a mysterious Vienna-based trading company, many of whose employees are former Soviet intelligence officers.
Their involvement with Nordex was arranged through Westbourne. Nordex, which trades in the Middle East as well as countries of the former Soviet bloc, was reported three years ago to have a turnover of Pounds 1.7 billion.
Its activities have caught the attention of western intelligence agencies.
Mrs Baddeley said yesterday that Westbourne's relationship with Nordex came to 'a natural end' in 1994. 'The Maxwell brothers work on various major projects we have, including quite a few in Russia, as strategic business consultants and giving marketing advice,' she said.
A business associate commented: 'There is no doubt that Kevin and Ian have first-class connections in Moscow. They are plugged into all the right people.'
A father of six, Kevin was spectacularly declared bankrupt with record debts of Pounds 406.5 million but has been working long hours - in addition to the time he has spent on his defence - on his freelance work.
Always portrayed as the brightest of the Maxwell offspring, Kevin was ultimately unable to withstand the sheer force of his father.
But when the sky fell in on the empire after Maxwell disappeared from his yacht, it was the apparently iron-spirited women of the family who caught the imagination as the backbone of the family.
Cap'n Bob's wife, Elizabeth, was, however, soon to reveal what hell the media tycoon had put her through and the apparently made-in-heaven match between the second oldest son, Ian, and his wife Laura was to fall apart
Laura stood by Ian's side for the entire 131-day trial, and had remained steadfast despite the prospect of homelessness. But the blonde Chicago-born former model who had taken up a career in TV, finally quit her husband's side after five years of marriage.
Only Pandora, Kevin's earthily spoken other half - famed for telling a dawn raid of police and fraud investigators to 'piss off' - has remained on side, even bearing another child.
Pandora, the daughter of a car number plate maker, never saw eye-to-eye with Kevin's father - an animosity which was, by all accounts, wholly reciprocated - although she claimed to have been 'charmed' by the charismatic tycoon as much as most others.
Neither Kevin nor Ian was immune to this paternal seduction, even though clearly intimidated by their father who felt no compunction in publicly humiliating both.
Apart from the oldest surviving child, Phillip, who long since distanced himself from his father's business, and Isabel, only Ghislaine, the 34-year-old younger daughter - regarded as the apple of Daddy's eye - appears untarnished by the brush of the scandal.
A persistent subject of tabloid speculation about her lifestyle and romantic attachments, she appears to have maintained her spending and standing in social circles since her father's death.
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