Football's $1 Billion Bank Fraud Scandal

the latest addition to uefa's european wide club competitions officially named the uefa europa conference league is a real gem for supposed football hipsters such as myself and an absolute gold mine for interesting and obscure tales from within european football uefa's tertiary competition the conference league slots in neatly below the champions league and the europa league and is open to more teams at qualifying level than either of uefu's two flagship competitions far from the glitz and glamour of old trafford or the santiago bernabeu there are uefa conference league clubs with stadiums constructed out of all tin cans shirts with numbers drawn on them in permanent marker and at the very bottom of the pal you've even got a club called tottenham hotspur i just of course but as much as the conference league is little more than a cynical attempt by uefa to create more fixtures under their umbrella motivated solely by desire to generate ever-increasing amounts of cash and although it is likely to be treated by champions league and europa league regulars with a certain degree of indifference i have to admit that i absolutely love it getting the chance to watch hull city in the europa league in 2014 albeit only in two qualifying rounds was a surreal and unforgettable experience as someone who started supporting the club whilst they were competing in the fourth tier of english football and whilst the big boys may view it as a consolation prize or even as a hindrance i have little doubt that for fans of teams who aren't used to competing in europe the conference league will be cherished adored and welcomed with open arms it is also a competition which throws up some really random and fun fixtures as well as bringing to light some pretty crazy stories intriguing characters and unusual teams from typically overlooked outposts of the european game one such example and the one that we're going to focus on today comes courtesy of moldovan supremos fc mil-sami or who play at a 2539 seater stadium which somehow apparently cost them 22 million pounds and which they also share with moldova's little known national rugby team who have never qualified for the rugby world cup milsami or hai are what one might call market disruptors within the unusual industry of moldovan football having recently become the first club from outside of the moldovan capital of kisha now and the capital of the breakaway state of transnistria tiraspol to have won the division national which is the top flight of moldovan football in today's video we're going to take a look at the journey of mil sami orhai who were only founded in 2005 to moldovan greatness but also at the city itself which is often referred to as being the richest city in europe's poorest country at their owner who lives in exile and at the crime he stands accused of committing which is one of the largest bank fraud schemes ever conceived i know we have got a lot to pack in and rarely has researching a video dragged me in so many strange directions useless tangents and simultaneously bizarre fascinating and heartbreaking webs of deceit and deception leaving behind a state of absolute ruin in a country that was already beset by crisis so sit back relax and join me on a journey to eastern europe to a former soviet republic which straddles both east and west in a region of great geopolitical importance but where little thought or consideration is ever given to the ever diminishing number of people who actually live there to a city somewhat immunized from many of moldova's crippling economic woes which has been civilized since the 6th century bc and has been shaped by one of moldova's most controversial politicians businessmen and suspected criminals as i mentioned during the introduction fc mil sami orhai are a young club founded in 2005. founded as vitrol steppe sochi the club began life in the north division of moldova's mixed amateur and semi-professional third tier known as the division b following a fourth place finish in their first season the club finished third in the 2006 07 campaign which was enough to clinch promotion to moldova's more competitive nationwide second tier nicknamed the red eagles the club who would soon relocate to jorge consolidated in their first second tier campaign finishing seventh out of 17 teams during the offseason just three years and one promotion on from their inception the club was relocated and renamed becoming viterol orrey the name change seemed to do the trick and in their first season under their new name jorge were promoted to the top flight for the first time as division a champions the club followed a similar pattern in the top flight as they had done in the second in as much as they consolidated during their debut campaign before changing their name over the following summer and returning as a much improved outfit jorge's name change in 2010 when the club took on their current name fc milsami jorge was their most significant it came as a consequence of local businessman elan shaw acquiring the club along with some of his associates shaw was just 23 years old at the time but he had already been in business for a number of years born in tel aviv shaw's family had relocated to moldova when he was only three years old and he grew up in the eastern european nation at the age of 15 shaw founded his first business and he would need the experience since at the age of 18 his father died and sure inherited his business empire the business known as shaw holdings spam sectors as varied as retail duty-free communications electronics media and advertising so it was a large weight of expectation that fell upon the shoulders of a very young man still grieving the loss of his father the initial results seemed to be positive though shaw showed shrewd management of shaw holdings existing businesses in addition to expanding the business growing into the banking and transportation sectors by the time he took over at the newly renamed mil-sami jorge football club aged 23 shaw was already one of the wealthiest citizens in moldova and he certainly didn't appear to be lacking in confidence the mill sami in the club's new name is a composite made up of the initials of shaw's name along with the initials of two of the club's other major investors because you know what's the point in even owning or investing in a football club if you can't shoehorn your own initials into their name isn't that right polygamy city fans anyhow despite the ostentatious name change the initial results were good shaw and his associates put some money into the new top flight club and in their first season under new ownership the club recorded an all-time high third place finish that's also secured qualification to play in europe for the first time azorte went into the europa league first qualifying round where they were battered 5-1 over two legs by georgian outfit dina motabilisi nonetheless it would still be a success for jorge who won their first trophy the moldovan cup at the sheriff's stadium in tirispol via a penalty shooter despite dropping down to fourth place in the league jorge's success had been inspired somewhat by the arrival of former brazilian under-16 international star adamar who arrived in moldova following a season spent playing in guatemala becoming the club's top scorer with seven goals from midfield adama's signing was congruent with the new regime's transfer policy which was to prioritize the signing and development of talented domestic players first and foremost but to have them aided and the standard of the team lifted by the presence of a sprinkling of overseas talent this was not a bankrolling operation similar to that of rivals sheriff tyra spoll or bulgarian outfit gretz rasgrad both of which i have covered with documentaries on this channel and both of whom have owners who have invested millions of pounds in an effort to dominate the domestic football landscape and to compete in european competitions facilitated by a large influx of foreign players from across europe africa and south america it was during 2014 that things really started to heat up in oregon both on and off the pitch we'll start with a football where with the help of a trio of outstanding romanian players most notably romeo cedu or has successfully completed their reshaping of the landscape of the moldovan game in an extraordinary title race with three teams all tied on the same number of wins draws defeats and of course points or hey were even tied on goal difference with dachia kissanao on the final day of the season despite only having led the table for three weeks all season jorge went top with a win against historically moldova's biggest club zimbru kizzanow they lifted the title by virtue of their superior head-to-head record over dachakis and now and sheriff tirospol whilst jorge had invested heavily by the standards of moldovan football and have been growing as a team every season a little bit like blackburn rovers in the mid-1990s despite both of those factors when they actually clinched the title it came as a pretty big surprise however whilst the city of jorge celebrated their greatest sporting success the country of moldova was reeling from one of eastern europe's greatest robberies midway through the season in late november 2014 1 billion us dollars had disappeared from moldova's three largest banks the money had been transferred to shell companies in the united kingdom and hong kong two of the world's money laundering capitals and then funneled through a string of companies before reportedly landing in the bank accounts of unnamed foreign nationals with bank accounts in latvia now i suspect that one billion us dollars sounds like a lot of money in just about any context unless we're talking about you know man city's transfer budget or the united states is military spending but in the case of moldova it is important to stress just how much money one billion dollars is moldova's total gdp in 2015 was just 7.75 billion dollars that means that in the space of just two to three days fraudsters extracted the equivalent of almost 13 of moldova's annual gdp out of the country's banks and into bank accounts for their own personal gain to put that into perspective if someone were to steal an equivalent proportion of the uk's gdp from uk banks you would have to siphon off roughly 350 billion dollars which would make you the richest person in the world overnight and if you adjust those figures for the united states you're talking about the best part of three trillion dollars which is enough money to buy yourself 18 and a half international space stations which is the most expensive single item ever constructed so we're talking about a lot of money in fact we're talking about so much money that when the moldovan government secretly bailed out the three banks who had been affected to the tune of 870 million dollars the amount required to keep them operating it devastated the country's economy moldova was already the poorest country in europe having been ransacked and robbed by oligarchs and politicians for three decades since the soviet union collapsed what's more nine times out of ten the politicians and the oligarchs are the same people following the bankruptcy of the nation's three largest banks though and the secretive state bailout poverty and desperation was joined by chaos the government had lost all authority meanwhile pro-russian and pro-european political parties took a break from beating each other over the head with sticks to join forces and tried to force through an early election seeking to capitalise on the low opinion of incumbent politicians at the time as the government refused to sanction early elections the threat of violence intensified until igor de don one of the country's most vocal critics of the previous regime was elected president in 2016 but he himself has been accused of forging alliances with the oligarchs that he once rallied against and of taking brabs doron was ousted in 2020 in a rerun of the 2016 election replaced by moldova's first female president maya sandu a woman who once described ion antonescu a virulent anti-semite who served as romania's wartime dictator whilst allied with the axis powers and orchestrated the deaths of 400 000 people mostly jews as part of romania's role in the holocaust as a historical figure about whom we might say both good and bad things end quote the pattern of moldovan politics since the country became independent in 1991 has been painfully predictable politicians both left and right gain power on a mandate of anti-corruption and leave office having become very very rich widely disliked and often set for life having been just as slimy and corrupt as their predecessors whilst the nation withers moldova is a country in crisis since 1991 a third of the population has left particularly young people from rural areas seeking a better life for themselves elsewhere resulting in an old not particularly productive population many of whom rely on state pensions which can be as low as 35 euros a month so who is the person responsible for making a bad situation in moldova so much worse by robbing the nation's banks of one billion dollars well according to the american investigative consultancy kroll who were hired by the national bank of moldova to investigate the one billion dollar fraud they laid the blame primarily at the door of mil sami orga owner elanshaw sure they alleged had links to many of the opaque companies which had benefited from these transactions the three banks banker economy unibank and banker sotzyala had all experienced takeovers in 2012 by seemingly unconnected individuals many of whom acquired their shares in the banks via partnerships based in the uk moldova has played a key role in european money laundering for some time to the tune of over 20 billion dollars and that's just the amount that we know about via a complex web of bribed judges bribed politicians and financial institutions often headed up by those who were also either receiving financial incentives to commit corporate fraud or stood to benefit directly from these transactions shaw had become involved in the moldovan banking system during his early twenties serving as chairman of banker economy one of the three banks implicated in the scandal after being implicated by kroll shaw came out swinging proclaiming his innocence and claiming that the downfall of the banks was a direct result of bad loans that were made prior to his arrival investigators found these claims to be flimsy at best given that the number of dubious loans the banker economy made following shaw's arrival as chairman actually increased despite the fact that he was the primary suspect for the national anti-corruption center and had been put under a period of house arrest in march 2015 in june 2015 elan shaw stood in moldova's local government's elections to become the new mayor of orhai this came just months after mil-sami orhai have been crowned as romanian champions and despite standing accused of such a serious crime shaw was riding a wave of popularity within his hometown not only had he guided the city's football club to unprecedented success shaw had also invested a fortune within the city itself whilst much of moldova is crippled by low wages virtually non-existent pensions crumbling infrastructure and appalling public transport organ residents have seen their standard of living improve thanks to shaw's investment in the region jorge has a functioning and free public bus system the roads and buildings are well maintained and the city is even home to moldova's largest and only free amusement park they're very impressive or hailand all of this means that whilst elan shaw is despised throughout much of moldova suspected of having fleeced the country out of almost an eighth of its annual gdp whilst most people struggle to eat and put a roof over their heads he retains strong popularity in orga it is not dissimilar to what we see with a number of suspected criminals harboring a positive perception of themselves within their local communities through their vast fortunes well aware of the benefits that may bring one can't help but think of the enormous amount of money that pablo escobar invested in the city of merain gifting millions of dollars to the city's poorest communities and thus becoming loved by many some orgai residents believe shaw's denials that he had nothing to do with the bank fraud and is just a successful legitimate businessman but many are well aware that he may have been involved or even have mass demanded the operation but simply don't care their lives have improved the how or why is frankly a secondary issue if a point of contention among some at all as far as they're concerned all politicians cheat lion steel elise shaw reinvested some of his ill-gotten gains in his hometown that's more than can be said for most so shaw was elected with 62 percent of the vote becoming the third most popular politician in moldova among his constituents despite the looming cloud of criminal investigation which lingered above his head in 2017 those clouds finally turned to thunder and lightning as shaw was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for crimes of money laundering fraud and abuse of confidence however he still maintained his innocence and appealed the decision being allowed to remain free pending his appeal shaw had become president of his own political party in 2016 which he naturally renamed the shaw party after himself in case you hadn't noticed shaw is not a particularly modest man he is short a little tubby unable to properly make his tie and often sporting a light stubble with a poncho for the finer things in life sure is a man whose office is decorated with a life-size sculpture of himself as well as owning a football club he used to sponsor moldova's tennis federation and he has long socialized with moldova's great and not so good mixing with some of eastern europe's most beloved politicians celebrities and rogues in 2011 aged only 24 just one year after he acquired milsami jorge sure married russian pop star jasmine in an enormous wedding jasmine is a big deal in russia having sold millions of records and the guest list at that wedding read like a who's who of high-profile moldovans the shaw party was an ambiguously pro-russian euro skeptic and nationalist whilst proclaiming to be a big ten political party in the 2019 parliamentary elections shaw's party became the fourth biggest in moldova winning seven seats despite the fact that their leader was still pending appeal for robbing moldova of one billion dollars it is difficult to imagine a better representation of the state of moldovan politics and the degree to which the moldovan people are being screwed by their elected representatives though his party had gained seven seats in the moldovan parliament that wasn't enough to reduce the heat onshore between june 14th and june 17th 2019 sure illegally escaped from moldova via chisinau international airport while still pending appeal over his charges how and why board force allowed him to pass through the airport was subject to an investigation though i suspect you can all make an educated guess shaw is now a fugitive on the run not alone among moldovan businessmen and former politicians in that regard he remains the president of both mil sami jorge and of the shaw party and he regularly updates his social media pages including both instagram and youtube for mil sami or hey 2015-14 was their everest but they remain a competitive club and home to some of moldova's finest young players in 2017 and 2018 they were top flight runners-up and they have recorded europa league wins against ludogora zerasgrad and a draw over one leg against league inside saint-etienne in this season's conference league the competition that brought them to my attention the red eagles overcame sarah hey though in the first qualifying round before a pretty damning 900 defeat over two legs against swedish outfieldsborg for moldova the country is still reeling from the economic collapse caused by the bank fraud of 2014 and three decades of corruption on a mass scale shaw's fleeing means no one has been brought to justice for a scandal which has left thousands struggling to feed themselves and their families in the 2020 moldovan presidential election violeta ivanov stood as the shore party's candidate for president with shaw living in exile the party campaigned on a mandate of improvements to agriculture strengthening social security and yes on fighting corruption you really couldn't make it up so that is it for today's video but thank you all very much as ever for watching i hope you enjoyed it hit the like button if that was the case let me know your thoughts down below in the comments make sure that you are subscribed and have notifications turned on for the channel and you can also find me on social media on twitter or instagram by the username at hitc7s on both

Channel: HITC Sevens

Views: 161,989

Keywords: HITC Sevens, Football, Soccer, Documentary, Moldova, Bank, Fraud, Scandal, Club, Team, Football Club, Milsami Orhei, Orhei, UEFA, Champions League, Conference League, Divizia Națională, Ilan Shor, $1 Billion, Billion, Fotbal, Owner, Finance, Money, Bankrupt

Id: bgWopTBARcI

Length: 22min 26sec (1346 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 12 2021