We’re not sure everyone understands the ramifications — the awesome ramifications — of Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov potentially buying the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets. He has agreed to the deal, but he needs the approval of 23 of the 30 NBA owners. We desperately want him to get it. Why? Because Mikhail Prokhorov is unlike any other billionaire, any sports owner, any human. You really need to know him better. Thus, a new weekly series here on The Sports Section: Mikhail Prokhorov Theater, in which we retell grand old anecdotes about — and we want to be careful not to overstate this — the world’s most amazing man. This week: The Courtesans in France.
The Alpine resort of Courchevel is in the Savoie region of the French Alps, has one of the shortest airport runways in the world, and is famous for being the go-to spot for Russian billionaires. Mikhail Prokhorov, the richest of all of them, frequently haunts Courchevel, and in January 2007, he was there enjoying a Russian rock band. After the concert, Prokhorov may or may not have met 25 people who may or may not have been flown in from Russia specifically for a massive orgy. The story gets a little hazy, but, essentially, Prokhorov was having a particularly wild celebration of the Orthodox New Year, a yearly two-week bash for “the Russian rich.”
Mr Prokhorov was taken into custody at the Hotel Byblos by a team of 50 officers. He told police that he brought the women because he enjoyed the company of clever, beautiful and young female companions. Seven Russian women aged about 20 were released without charge.
Prokhorov insisted that the women he flew in were merely friends and associates, and that “to stay young, you have to be surrounded with youth and beauty.” He was detained and released to run his company the next day. He later demanded an apology, and the charges were finally dropped last month. He called it “logical” and insisted that the women — who had all their expenses paid for and were showered with jewelry and clothing — were just “young and beautiful friends.” The French are so uptight about sex sometimes.
Since January 2007, Mikhail Prokhorov has not been arrested for setting up wild orgy parties for two-week celebrations of the Russian Orthodox New Year in the French Alps.