Kerimov Rebound From Morgan Stanley Meltdown Snags on Potash

Suleiman Kerimov amassed a net worth of $18 billion betting mainly on shares of companies controlled by Vladimir Putin only to gamble away the bulk of that on Morgan Stanley and other banks during the global financial crisis.

Now the 47-year-old native of Dagestan, on Russia’s Caspian seashore, is back in the eye of an international storm as he tries to rebuild his fortune by dominating the $20 billion potash market. His nemesis this time isn’t sophisticated Wall Street derivatives, but a one-time collective farm boss who’s run the former Soviet province of Belarus for two decades: Aleksandr Lukashenko.