Ilia Pavlov

Ilia Pavlov
Born	August 6, 1960 (1960-08-06) Bulgaria
Died	March 7, 2003 (2003-03-08) Sofia, Bulgaria

Iliya Pavlov Naydenov (Bulgarian: Илия Павлов Найденов) (August 6, 1960 - March 7, 2003) was a Bulgarian businessman. He was the leader and founder of the Multigroup organization, as well as of G-13.

Pavlov was ranked the eighth richest man in Central and Eastern Europe by the Polish magazine Wprost in 2002. He was said to be worth $US1.5 billion.

Before his death he had been married to Darina Pavlova, who inherited his fortune after his murder.

Death

Pavlov was shot outside his office with a single bullet to the heart by a sniper and died instantly. The day before he had testified in the trial of the accused murderers of Andrey Lukanov, Bulgaria's first prime minister after the fall of communism who died in 1996. Pavlov had claimed that he had no conflict with Lukanov.

No one has been charged in Pavlov's murder and while several possible theories have been put forth the motive is unknown. A previous attempt on Pavlov's life had been made in 1997 when a bomb destroyed his car. He was not in it at the time.

In 2010 Pavlov's sister, Slavka Naydenova, and her 8-year old son were murdered in Dale City, Virginia. A Russian-American woman who was the wife of Naydenova's ex-husband pleaded guilty to the murders which were blamed on jealousy.

Sports career

Pavlov was a former Bulgarian wrestling champion who graduated from the National Sports Academy in Sofia.

See also

• List of Bulgarians
• Bulgarian mafia