MOSCOW — A Russian construction magnate who made headlines for saying that anyone who failed to become a billionaire in Russia is a loser has admitted that his once titanic company is going under.
Mirax Group chief executive Sergei Polonsky, who was worth $1.2 billion in 2008, according to Forbes magazine, posted a letter on his blog late Thursday saying that the company would stop all construction.
The post comes after a court last week froze Mirax Group’s assets for its failure to repay a $242 million loan, putting the brakes on such high-profile Mirax projects as the Federation Tower, an ambitious Moscow spire planned for completion in 2010.
Polonsky famously declared in 2008 that “those who don’t have a billion can go to hell.” Now, he acknowledges things have changed.
“During the past . . . month, we haven’t sold a single square meter of housing or collected any . . . payments for the real estate we’ve already sold,” he wrote. The Associated Press
