In 2003, he was placed in Russia working with the Russian Mafia. There was however little substance to these allegations. In early 2005, he it was reported that he went to South Africa with £4 million after a failed drug deal with the Russian mobsters in Latvia. During this time, it was reported, he hired two Latvian bodyguards believing Colombian drug cartels might also pursuing him. In July 2005, he purchased a 75 ft.-Sunseeker Predator and made his escape from the country reportedly sailing north for Spain. Worth £1.5 million, the yacht was fitted with high-tech radar and twin 1,200 hp engines keeping ahead of the Russian Mafia and Colombian drug cartels.