Igor Olenicoff

Founder, Olen Properties

A family tragedy and legal issues have dotted billionaire Igor Olenicoff’s life. 

Olenicoff’s 32-year-old son died in a car accident in 2005. A couple of years later, Olenicoff, founder of the Olen Properties in 1974, pleaded guilty to a single felony count of filing a false tax return in 2002 for $200 million he kept hidden in offshore accounts. He was fined $52 million, and got two years of probation, avoiding jail time in a plea deal that his criminal defense lawyer later described as “the gift of the century.” In 2014, Olenicoff and his development firm were found liable for copyright infringement, and were ordered to pay $450,000 to sculptor Donald Wakefield for copying his sculptures to decorate Olen Properties’ developments. A federal judge in 2015 ordered Olenicoff to pay sculptor John Raimondi $640,000 for having knockoffs of his work made in China and installed at his development sites.

The firm’s portfolio spans 8 million-plus square feet of office and flex space and more than 17,000 residential units across eight states including Arizona, California and Florida, per the company’s website. Olenicoff’s daughter, Natalia Ostensen, helps run the company. Her late brother, Andrei, as well as her husband worked at the firm. Olenicoff started his career as a consultant and corporate executive. His first development was the 12-building Orange Freeway Business Park office-flex complex in Placentia. He is worth $8 billion as of Sept. 24, making him No. 434 on Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaires rankings.