Anna Chapman biography
Date of birth : 1982-02-23
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Volgograd, Russia
Nationality : Russian
Category : Famous Figures
Last modified : 2022-02-23
Credited as : Businesswoman, media personality, Russian intelligent agent, Anna Chapman spy
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Anna Chapman, whose former name is Anya Kushchenko according to US authorities, is a Volgograd native from a successful family. Her father was employed in the Russian embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. She attended an elite boarding school and earned a masters degree in economics from the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in Moscow. She later worked in London at NetJets, Barclays Bank and allegedly at a few other companies for brief periods. In 2001, at an underground rave party in London's Docklands, she met Alex Chapman, then 21, the son of a British business executive, whom she married shortly thereafter in Moscow. In July 2010, Alex Chapman admitted he was not surprised about her arrest. He stated that when they married she was a "carefree, bohemian" individual. "Anna was an extremely passionate, caring and loving woman. She is also extremely intelligent—she has an IQ of 162 and it showed, because she was able to juggle so many things at once and make them a success." He later sold semi-nude pictures of Anna with sex toys. Anna has received the most press of the alleged spies.
After meeting a group of Russians in 2005, there was "a dramatic change" in her, with his wife becoming arrogant and distant. She regularly met with the Russians and dismissed her husband's wish to join her, saying that they would all be speaking Russian. In 2005, she became pregnant but decided to have an abortion so she could pursue her career. Her ex-husband felt her decision was out of character for her and that she may have been influenced by her friends. The couple divorced in 2006 but remained friends and she later expressed regret to him, saying she had "suffered a lot" after "killing our baby". Her ex-husband stated that he believed there was "some sort of influence on her, some sort of conditioning, then when push came to shove she found herself in a situation she couldn’t get out of." Alex Chapman's father stated, "She's simply not some Mata Hari, she can't be... she's just an ordinary girl" and "I think Anna was either set up or seduced into something because of the glamour. I feel very sorry for her." Chapman posted photos of herself on the Odnoklassniki ("Classmates") social networking website in Russia where she stated “Russia, Moscow. My favorite place on earth, my native capital!” She also posted photos and profiles on the Facebook and LinkedIn social networking websites. "It makes no sense," said a college friend of Chapman. "She was living a life that was exciting enough, without getting wrapped up [in] what sounds like a crazy movie script."
Her former husband, Alex Chapman, told the media that Anna’s father “...controlled everything in her life.” He claimed that Anna had told him that her father had been a senior KGB official in the ‘old Russia.’ Alex added that the “scary” Vasily Kushchenko (Anna’s father), didn’t care for the young Englishman. On his visit to Russia, Chapman said Vasily did not introduce him to any Russians, and was always surrounded by security officers and traveled in a Land Rover with blacked-out windows followed by other vehicles.
Anna Chapman's LinkedIn social networking site profile identified herself as CEO of PropertyFinder Ltd., a website selling real estate internationally. Her husband Alex stated that Anna told him the enterprise was continually in debt for the first couple of years. But suddenly in 2009, she had as many as 50 employees and a successful business.
In 2009, Chapman moved to New York, taking up residence at 20 Exchange Place, one block from Wall Street in Manhattan.
Chapman was reportedly in a relationship with Michel Bittan, a divorced Israeli-Moroccan restaurant owner, while she was living in New York. Around this time, she had allegedly attempted to purchase ecstasy tablets. She later described her time in the United States with the Charles Dickens quote, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times".
After Anna was arrested in New York on charges of spying, Alex hired media publicist Max Clifford, and sold her story to The Daily Telegraph. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General. In 2010 she was deported to Russia as part of a prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia.
On 21 January 2011, Chapman began hosting a weekly TV show in Russia called Secrets of the World for REN TV. In June 2011, Chapman was appointed as editor of Venture Business News magazine, according to Bloomberg News.
