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Crash death investigation
Home affairs



Published: 24-Apr-2004
By: Sarah Smith



When the closest confidant of Russia's wealthiest man died in a helicopter crash in Dorset last month, suspicions were raised.


While air accident investigators are still trying to find what caused the crash, local police say they have no plans to investigate.



But the National Criminal Intelligence Service is apparently taking an interest in the case.



Channel Four News has learned that shortly before he died, Stephen Curtis contacted officers to offer his services as an informant.



And friends told us the millionaire lawyer was afraid for his life in the weeks before the crash. Sarah Smith reports.



An extravagant send-off for a wealthy man who died without warning.



To the tiny Dorset village of Easton they came from around the world to mourn a man who was close to the rich, the powerful and the controversial. They all knew him well.



Many of the mourners had their suspicions, this unexplained accident coming just as Curtis had assumed a crucial role in one of the world's largest companies.



We have tracked down the only known picture, taken more than 20 years ago, of a man who did not like to be photographed.



A man who lived a secretive life on the remote island of Portland, staying in the shadows because he knew his top-level business dealings put him at great risk.



His unique skill: providing invaluable tax expertise to Russian oligarchs and Arab billionaires alike. His biggest client was Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's richest man and President Putin's greatest foe.



For years Curtis was his most trusted adviser. Then in October Khodorkovsky was arrested on tax fraud charges. From behind bars, he couldn't run his own empire.



So the lawyer became the boss. Khodorkovsky made Curtis managing director of the company that controls Russia's largest oil firm, worth $30 billion and currently under assault from the prosecuting authorities.



We have learned from friends of Stephen Curtis that he was receiving death threats on the phone. He did not like people to know his travel plans.



They told us he was even considering selling his London penthouse - it was too well-known - and that just before he died he made it clear that those around him that he was increasingly in fear of his life.


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