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Alexander Vladimirovich Gitelson (Mostica of Drogobych region of the Ukrainian SSR) is a Russian entrepreneur.

Founder of the Eastern European Finance Corporation (EEFK), which was engaged in banking business in Russia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bank VEFK, Bank VEFK-Ural, Petro-Aero-Bank and others), as well as development, trade and oil production. In 2008-2009, the banking business of the corporation came under state control. In 2009, Gitelson was arrested on money laundering charges, but was later released. In 2010, he was also accused of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles, arrested in absentia and put on the international wanted list. In the case of embezzlement of funds from Deputy Adnan Muzykayev was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison.

Gitelson is married and has a daughter who lives in the UK.

Biography
Alexander Vladimirovich Gitelson was born on April 16, 1950 in the city of Mostiska, Drogobych region of the Ukrainian SSR near the Polish border: his father served there in the border troops. In 1952, together with his parents, Gitelson moved to Leningrad, where his father was born. In 1976, Gitelson graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Aviation Instrumentation (now SUAI) with a degree in Electronic Computing Machines, after which he began working as an engineer of the computing center at the Turbine Blade Factory. In 1991, Gitelson left the plant, by that time he was already the chief engineer of the rental design bureau of the enterprise "Special Design and Technology Bureau of Microprocessor Devices", which designed control systems for power equipment for the plant.

Since 1988, Gitelson has actively engaged in commercial activities, created and headed a number of banks and large companies.

Since 2009, a number of criminal cases on economic crimes have been brought against Gitelson. He was put on an international wanted list and arrested in Austria in April 2013. He was extradited to Russia, where he was awaiting trial in the prison Matrosskaya Tishina in Moscow, and since December 2013 in St. Petersburg. Only by July 1, 2014 all investigative actions and materials were transferred to the court.

Business activities
Even before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Gitelson became engaged in commerce, in 1988 he founded a number of cooperatives engaged in the import and assembly of personal computers and other electronic equipment. In 1989, he entered banking, becoming the founder of the banks “Petrovsky” and “Aeroflot” (his share in the latter was small). In 1992, Gitelson lost control of Petrovsky, and Aeroflot’s license was revoked in 1997. In 1991, Gitelson left Russia, he said, engaged in trade and financial operations in Germany and Austria, and then moved to Cyprus, where he headed BTI Communication Ltd. It was reported that he received start-up capital for his business in the form of a loan in Israel and multiplied it by playing on the stock exchange.

While in Cyprus, Gitelson continued to do business in Russia. In 1995, Gite