Aras Agalarov

Born in Baku, Agalarov was educated at the Azerbaijan Polytechnical Institute. There, he studied computer engineering and was a member of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and Baku City Committee. == Scientific and Creative Activity ==

Candidate of Economic Sciences; in 1998 defended a dissertation entitled “Formation and Use of the Wage Fund Using a Communications Enterprise as an Example”. Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts since 2015. Author of the books “My View of Russia in the Era of Reforms” (1998), “Russia: Reflections on the Path to the Market”, and “Another Attempt?… Articles on the Russian Economy Published in 1996–1999.” In January 2020, Araz Agalarov criticized the economy of the Russian Federation: “GDP cannot grow in Russia with such low wages and pensions and such high taxes”. ==Career==

Agalarov then opened the first Crocus Inter store, which became a retail business that includes malls offering housewares. This moved him into property development, where he built the Crocus City Mall, the largest shopping centre in Moscow. Adjacent to this he then built the largest trade center in Russia on the outskirts of Moscow, Crocus Expo, and has since developed a luxury housing development. He has partnered with Robert De Niro in Nobu Matsuhisa's two Moscow restaurants. He paid Trump $20 million to host the pageant. Herman Gref, who runs Sberbank of Russia, Agalarov and his son hosted a dinner for Trump on the night of the pageant. According to an interview, they once discussed the construction of a Trump Tower in Russia. Agalarov had also reportedly tried to set up a meeting between the two, but this was canceled due to Putin having to meet the Dutch royal couple at the time. Putin instead sent Trump a fedoskino miniature. In 2014, Kyrgyzstan signed a treaty with Russia that named Crocus Group as the single supplier of services to integrate into the Eurasian Economic Union, avoiding competitive bidding on the $127 million deal. Following the meeting, Agalarov wired $1.2 million to a bank in New Jersey controlled by Emin, a transfer which is being investigated by American law enforcement. Emin said that after Trump won the United States presidential election in 2016, Trump sent them a handwritten note, saying he does not forget his friends. ==Personal life==

Agalarov was married to Irina Agalarova and has two children. His son Emin Agalarov is a businessman and singer-songwriter. Emin was married to Leyla Aliyeva, the daughter of the current President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, until they divorced in May 2015. Agalarov has twin grandsons from his son's marriage. In July 2017, Agalarov put his mansion in Alpine, New Jersey up for sale for $7 million. The mansion eventually sold in November 2017 for $5.8 million. In March 2026, Agalarov got divorced from his wife Irina and married his mistress Alena, who is 43 years his junior. ==References==