Alexander Litvinenko Assassination Theories - Private Investigator and Blackmailer Theory

Private Investigator and Blackmailer Theory

An unnamed ex-KGB officer who talked to James Rodgers of BBC suspected that Litvinenko "was running short of cash and had no more KGB stories to tell or sell". The source believed that Litvinenko then engaged in a "potentially deadly deal".

According to an interview with Andrei Lugovoi by RIA Novosti, Litvinenko had serious financial problems and badly needed money, as his allowances had been reduced three-fold over the summer

According to Julia Svetlichnaja, a Russian doctoral candidate at the University of Westminster's Center for the Study of Democracy, Litvinenko "was going to blackmail or sell sensitive information about all kinds of powerful people including oligarchs, corrupt officials and sources in the Kremlin". Ms. Svetlichnaya said that Litvinenko "mentioned a figure of £10,000 they would pay each time to stop him broadcasting these FSB documents" and that he "was short of money and was adamant that he could obtain any files he wanted."

According to unnamed British security sources contacted with Richard Beeston, Daniel McGrory and Tony Halpin of The Times, "Litvinenko might have been killed after a deal that went wrong with associates involved in the ruthless world of Russian business". The article's authors said Litvinenko "was envious of the money many of his former colleagues were making" and that his friends said he claimed to be involved in investigations of smuggling rings for nuclear material and prostitutes.