Illanya can toss a knife 25 feet and hit whatever she chooses, and she’s never without a few of them. Rumor has it that, even when completely nude, she can “magically” produce a knife—though she reserves that trick for occasions that call for slicing and dicing. She doesn’t have to worry about airport security because she only travels on one of her three private jets.

Illanya is a gypsy who grew up in a carnival in what is now Russia. Orphaned before she was three years old, her adopted family were the side-show attractions—the Wolfman; the married couple Big (she exceeds 400 pounds) and Tall (he’s over seven feet in height); Snake Boy; and the three-armed lady. Illanya’s responsibility as a member of the traveling show was to help set up and tear down in each new location, to be an extra in some of the acts and to “entertain” when necessary.

In every part of the world there’s a thriving underground economy, and the carnival existed in such a world. Over the years, Illanya became friendly with a broad cross-section of people and built her knowledge of both legitimate and questionable business practices. The collapse of the U.S.S.R. and the spread of capitalism through its former republics unleashed a new financial order—one where a person could benefit from the myriad enterprising people she knew.
Illanya started her financial ascension by trading in raw diamonds. She expanded her nascent empire by lending money to some of her contacts, but more often she was an investor in their projects. As the money started to roll in, she relocated with her unique family to London.

In England, she encountered a consortium of exceptionally wealthy families with an appetite for opportunistic investments. Shortly thereafter she established a private equity fund focused on the growing industries in her homeland and the surrounding countries. As a frontrunner, Illanya returned handsome profits to her investors and used that momentum to advance her business. Today, she is the managing partner of two distinct private equity portfolios with an enterprise value of approximately €1.2 billion, and, no doubt, profiting handsomely herself.

Success has not dulled the memories of her youth and the people that helped make it tolerable, choosing to share her good fortune with her adopted family. The Wolfman, having undergone cosmetic surgery, has a 2008 Lamborghini Murcielago and an entourage of beautiful people. Big and Tall live close to the city on an estate that’s been fully customized to accommodate their special qualities and, after some experimental treatments, Snake Boy occupies a tony flat and amuses himself with the surprisingly large group of women that like “very bad men” and plays a key role in Illanya’s investment operation. She also provides generous support to orphanages throughout the former Soviet Union, knowing she can increase the possibilities for someone very much like her.

Illanya maintains that the network she developed, albeit eccentric, during her years with the carnival has paid significant dividends. Outsiders peg her personal wealth at “a few hundred million euros,” which, by most measures, is a damn good result for a childhood spent breaking down stages, dancing with strangers and throwing the occasional knife.