Judges in Moscow are in their ninth day of reading the verdict in oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s trial, going over details of tax evasion charges, as the politically-charged case approached its end.

WHEN one of the plum prizes went on the block in Russia’s chaotic sell-off of former Soviet assets, the highest bid for a stake was $1 billion — but prosecutors say Mikhail Khodorkovsky snapped it up for just $210,000.