Robert Amsterdam

Fulvio Conti, CEO of Enel

Earlier this year when ENI and Enel became the first foreign companies to own the stolen assets of Yukos, it would seem to fair to ask exactly who was acquiring what. It seems not so much that the Italians actually acquired property - but rather that the Kremlin acquired proxies to do their bidding.

Take for example, Fulvio Conti, CEO of Enel, and by all accounts available, a talented and impressive executive with an admirable career. But now, since getting into bed with the Russians on the theft of the century, he isn't even allowed to attend his own speaking engagement at the Russian Economic Forum in London! What's next? Asking his new employers in the Kremlin for permission to use the restroom?