Russian businessman, investor, and philanthropist Dmitry Rybolovlev is in the news this week as his plans to develop a Greek island VIP tourism project draw nearer. According to the news is ready to begin a multi-billion euro development on Skorpios islet made famous by the Greek tycoon and his famous wife, former United States First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy (Jackie O).
Situated near Lefkada in the Ionian Sea near Lefkada, the Skorpios was the site of the wildly publicized marriage of Aristotle and Jackie O back in 1968. Onassis’s daughter Christina inherited the islet at her father’s death, and in turn, passed Skorpios to her daughter Athina Onassis Roussel.
Rybolovlev, who bought the island for his famous socialite daughter,
Ekaterina Rybolovleva for an estimated €124 million euro. It was Ekaterina who was actually listed as the buyer, but subsequent litigation over the legality of the sale have muddied the waters of Rybolovlev’s.
As it turned out, Aristotle Onassis stated in his will that the island would remain in the family as long as they could afford to cover its maintenance expenses. And since his granddaughter is thought to be worth billions, Greek interests claimed at a point the sale was not legal. This situation forced the sale to Rybolovleva to be classified as a 100-year lease instead. Regardless of the legal entanglements, it now seems that Dmitry Rybolovlev intends to begin a massive development of both Skorpios and the neighboring Sparti. And since the government has now apparently approved the development, we could soon see the world’s rich and famous partying on Skorpios again. When Aristotle Onassis was alive, the billionaire’s private island hosted the crème de la crème of the social register.
Christina Thierry Roussel has been described as “the richest girl in the world.” She was the only surviving descendant of the Aristotle Onassis, who is buried alongside his son Alexander, who died from injuries received in an air at the age of only 24. Christina was born in France, the only child of Christina Onassis and her fourth husband, Thierry Roussel, the heir to a pharmaceutical empire.
Now, news from GTP suggests Rybolovlev has set up a new firm known as Mykinai SA to run the VIP unit comprised of dozens of luxury villas, a spa, fitness center and restaurants, a marina, and a €61.4-million-euro Next Generation Access (NGA) fiber-optic network. This reports claimes these VIP digs will go for a weekly rate of €20,000 euros. With regard to Rybolovlev’s plans for fiber optic on the island, Kathimerini reported the fast-tracking of the Skorpios investment project back in November of 2017. According to that news, the budget for the first phase of the VIP club was supposedly €120 million euro, with the fixed telephony, by Vodafone, worth €61.4 million.
George Onassis
For the project to go through to fruition Rybolovlev will have to jump through all the usual hoops including the environmental assessment and formalized plan. I found the environmental engineer, Foteini Tsafou for Mykinai SA, who’s been involved in a good number of large projects like this one for the Prinos offshore development project of Energean in the Gulf of Kavala in the North Aegean.