Billionaires from the former Soviet Union flooded into Europe throughout the 1990s. Not a few had close connections with politicians—or in some cases with the security services—in their home countries. Roman Abramovich bought the once-middling team Chelsea FC, which he took to the top of English football by spending near unheard-of money. Russian-Uzbek businessman Alisher Usmanov, meanwhile, bought nearly a third of the shares of the storied Arsenal FC.