Wagner warlord Prigozhin’s family carving up his £1billion fortune after he was murdered by Putin

YEVGENY Prigozhin's huge £1billion is being fought over by his family as his assets are carved up between relatives.

Rebel Wagner warlord Priogozhin was killed went his private jet was blown from the sky on August 23 - allegedly on Vladimir Putin's orders.

The tyrant's pal-turned-foe, 62, was estimated to be worth a billion and boasted a vast number of assets including a massive yacht.

But before his fireball crash death, his family had already started squabbling over his huge empire, an investigation has revealed.

His relatives have started divvying up his assets, according to Russian news channel Mozhem Obyasnit (We Can Explain).

According to the channel, his family had started transferring his assets into their names before he had even died.

Days before the plane crash, structural changes were made to eight of Prigozhin's most profitable companies.

Alterations were also put into place at a company controlled by his son Pavel.  The firm also created a spinoff entity for tax reasons.

The channel also revealed his mother Violetta hid information about herself in state registers.

Meanwhile, it is understood Prigozhin's widow was removed as owner of two of his biggest companies and was replaced by one of his long-time business partners, Dmitry Koshara.

Prigozhin started his ruthless rise to the top after opening a convenience store and eventually a chain of restaurants.

By 1996, he was running a hugely successful restaurant business that one fateful day Putin would dine at – earning the nickname “Putin’s chef”.

Soon after meeting President Putin in 2001, Prigozhin’s catering company began receiving lucrative state contracts to feed Russia’s schools and military.

It would turn out to be a billion ruble friendship – one of the many perks of proximity to Putin.

As his wealth amassed, so did his lavish lifestyle. He partied hard, bought a 121-foot yacht called St Vitamin and bought property worth £105million.

Pictures revealed a life of extraordinary wealth spent on private jets, super-yachts and flash cars, and a decade-old past spent skulking in the background of the upper-most echelons of world politics.

Prigozhin’s lengthy CV also includes allegedly meddling in the US 2016 elections by bankrolling Russian propaganda-pumping troll farms.

In 2018, landing him on the FBI’s “most wanted” list.

Prigozhin is also known to have made his money from dodgy government contracts and natural resources.

It is understood Wagner Group plunders diamonds, gold, oil, and gas from countries in which they operate - as well as being paid directly by crooked regimes.

On top of his other businesses, it inflated Prigozhin's wealth to extraordinary levels - with some estimates putting his personal fortune as much as £2billion.

A raid on the Wagner Group HQ in St Petersburg revealed £38 million cash in US dollars and other foreign currency, along with a stash of gold bullion and fake passports from the warlord.

Prigozhin was killed when his private jet nosedived out of the sky and exploded in a fiery crash that left all ten onboard dead.

Days later, his remains were identified by DNA testing, Russia's Investigative Committee said.

Speculation is rife Prigozhin was killed on Putin's orders after denting the tyrant's authority with a short-lived coup just two months earlier.

But the cause of the crash has not officially been confirmed.