Zarakh Iliev was born in Krasnaya Sloboda, Azerbaijan, to Binsion and Sibo Iliev, and has five brothers and two sisters. Iliev's family is part of a tight knit community of Mountain Jews. Binsion Iliev was a shoemaker who taught his sons his trade. While in his home village, Zarakh Iliev took his first steps in business by sewing hats and selling them in the nearby town of Quba. In 1983, when he was 17, Iliev left home to look for work in Moscow. He began working for his uncle on Lubyanka Street, but quickly became a respected trader at the Cherkizovsky Market.
