Monaco's Mafia: A Money Launderer's Paradise (2001)

[Music] barely the role of the dice away from the monte carlo casino a monaco banker belts out his favorite russian folk song and he's celebrating more than just european monetary union [Music] for if monaco's enemies are to be believed the money men are now singing all the way to the bank courtesy of their best new customers the russian mafia [Music] apparently the russians are coming and lots of them with suitcases full of cash the loot from asset stripping gun running and drug trafficking the exclusive man dublin [Music] the russian money launderers are a new breed of not so beautiful people moving anonymously among the super-rich safe in the knowledge that monaco residency and banking secrecy makes them virtually untouchable all the russians came in on my office and said okay i would like a residence in monaco how many i have to pay to the prince exactly the same story you know they they think that we can pay everything and opt them everything with money sometimes it's quite true once famously described as a sunny place for shady people this raffish haven for tax dodgers is now gaining a far darker reputation [Music] long before disneyland there was monaco barely two square kilometres of comic opera kingdom nestled in the french riviera a fantasy land where the mega rich preen and the hoi polloi pier in the 50s monaco's ruler prince renier grimaldi married hollywood star grace kelly and the fairy tale was complete but behind the disney-like facade the grimaldi world is crumbling grace was killed in a car accident in the eighties [Music] now rarely seen in public is reported to be terminally ill and losing control of his kingdom to the hard men of the mob it's a development that infuriates neighbor and patron france in reality monaco only exists as an independent nation due to a long-standing treaty with france under which paris gets to appoint a certain number of the police and civil servants here this somewhat rocky relationship has now hit an all-time low with france's ruling socialist party claiming that monaco has become little more than a giant money laundering operation but the russian mafia has moved in and taken control of the principalities banking operations and that monaco is just one step away from becoming a fully fledged mafia state in the heart of the european union frenchman roger louis bianchini is a legendary investigative journalist who spent 40 years trawling the depths of monaco's underworld his exposes have provoked numerous death threats these days he dares not step ashore in the fabled harbour money laundering may be a global business with electronic transfers zapping everywhere from nigeria to nauru but what makes monaco different he says is that the mafia now choose to live in this laundry a sunny place where they can watch their money drive honest that's the equivalent of nearly 70 billion us dollars in a nation with only 30 000 residents say the system seemed to work quite well until december 99 when billionaire banker edmund safra a lebanese-born monaco citizen mysteriously died in a fire in his apartment apparently convinced that he was under attack by terrorists or the mafia safra barricaded himself in the bathroom and died at smoke inhalation a member of his staff was later charged with starting the blaze but many suspect safra's close links to the russian mall costing his life suddenly focused world attention on monaco's grubbier dealings with the mob under pressure from france about 16 russians have since been quietly expelled for breaking the golden rule of discretion [Music] the russians have been coming to the riviera since the days of the tsar though these days in monaco and along the coast in the french city of nice the new russian elite works hard at keeping a low profile but while the mafia dons were proving to be elusive their french lawyer pierre cami agreed to meet under the russian flag on nisa's promenade de sangle hi mark how are pierre says the russians don't fit the cliched image of thugs in bad suits many are ex-kgb agents or finance officials from the soviet era sophisticated and well-traveled they sidestep investigators with ease [Music] their bank account and transfer and then whatever and offshore company and shell company and what they need do you enjoy the work yeah of course if i enjoy the work of course it's a it's a pleasure to work for with these guys and pierre's introduction to the red mafia came six years ago on a riviera beach when three serious men in suits marched across the sand for a chat it was incredible because they there were three russians came and explained to me that their friends were in jail for problem and and they immediately start to tell me okay uh how many for the judge how many for the judge but that we are in france here we we don't use to to pay a judge to to open freedom it's into oh no you are not a good lawyer could you just tell us who is the lawyer who knows how to give to the judge pierre took the case anyway his client one of the most feared figures of the moscow mafia alexei petrov a youthful godfather known as lenny the fox to his associates arrested over a passport irregularity pierre won the case and alexi who's now in hiding is still in regular contact with his lawyer who insists he's resisted the temptation to go over to the dark side through that you need to take care and and be very careful with what you are able to do and what is legal and try never cross the line never cross the line and it's true then when there is a lot of money it's attractive they can propose you some something the football thoroughbreds of the all-powerful monaco team play an unwitting role in one russian's bid for respectability and prestige when they take to the field the players sport the logo of a key corporate sponsor fedcom a mysterious russian company now headquartered in monaco in a corporate sporting world dominated by companies selling cars and mobile phones fedcom makes a bizarre teammate for the russian company's only declared product is farm fertilizer destined for the developing world club officials say that fedcom pays the equivalent of 60 million us dollars a year for sponsorship it's an expensive way of raising the profile of russian fertilizer with europe's football fans many in france think the whole fedcom deal smells but concede it's almost impossible to gather evidence from corrupt russian authorities [Music] it's impossible to make an appointment with fedcom's elusive owner alexei fedoracev and we find the nerve center of this successful multinational surprisingly quiet is there somebody we can speak to is there a manager is it possible to have a word with you yeah okay italian-born finance director eric baningo is remarkably vague on detail he's not sure of the exact number of factories owned by fedcom or of the company's market share why bother sponsoring because you don't need your name to be known you only need it to be known within the industry and that needs specialized advertising why do you do all this it was the more or less the wish of uh the president of the company when he arrived to monaco he wanted to participate at his level to the economic life of monaco so instead of just making some donation or that kind of thing you prefer to do something else i don't think that all the russians that are here belong to the mafia i mean okay there are entrepreneurial individuals everywhere i mean it's not because you say i mean the country you're coming from is not a good example mars okay maybe you will still have this tag like the italian okay not under italian or mafia also i know it because i'm italian origin so don't tell me i'm mafia but not everyone sees the joke one of the 16 russians deported in monaco's mafia crackdown was a fedcom director wanted in three countries on a variety of fraud and passport offences mr boningo insists his colleague left for cultural reasons after finding it difficult to settle in monaco we had one director but he went back to russia because it's difficult for them to uh to to find well in that kind because i mean it's really different culture in fact many security conscious russians thrive in this culture it's the kind of town where you can leave the bodyguards at home 200 security cameras and 700 police taking care of business and any unwanted tv crews just doing some filming around the hotel in the casino okay perfect in monaco the media is only welcome at the endless succession of tightly controlled sporting and lifestyle events which is where we catch up with the heir apparent prince regne's son his most serene highness prince albert grimaldi a 43 year old bachelor with a passion for bobsley racing it's a life lived in the viewfinders of the paparazzi recording the grimaldi family saga of scandal and tragedy that rivals the british royals [Music] this is about the only kind of pressure albert relishes with his father's health failing he's now being groomed as the chief executive in waiting of monaco incorporated but the heir apparent of this slick media savvy kingdom is surprisingly uncomfortable when answering obvious questions whatever accusations were thrown at us were undue and we're what's a good way of putting this uh we're simply false and and and uh wrong many french officials doubt the playboy prince's ability to keep a firm grip fearing that the mafia is now moving from the passenger seat to the controls with albert in danger of becoming little more than a figurehead when you're accused of not only having money laundering or any fraud that happens in your country are and almost encouraging it which is is totally inconceivable to me [Music] far from monaco's ferraris and facelifts in the heartland of rural france we find alberts between another young man a political rising star already marked for greater things [Music] is a lawyer and socialist party member of france's national assembly more importantly he's a key member of the assembly's money laundering commission that probed monaco's mafia links and enraged prince renyer to the point he threatened to break off relations with france [Applause] francis it's a campaign that plays well to his farming constituency the agrarian socialists of provincial burgundy [Applause] is in 1962 president charles de gaulle imposed a two-day blockade of monaco successfully persuading french residents of the principality that they should be paying french income tax now the socialists are again calling for direct action enthusiastically backing montborg's calls to send in the foreign legion and skittle the detested grimaldi dynasty once and for all [Applause] [Music] the russians may buy their residency in monaco but many then choose to actually live and play in grand style just down the french coast along a secluded stretch now dubbed the russian bay of millionaires are the houses of boris yeltsin's daughter yeltsin's former aid and mafia figure boris berezovsky and numerous lesser dons [Music] just offshore from the berezovsky compound we finally bump into a group of the elusive russian elite where are you from are you we're asked aboard it seems an invitation we refuse my name can't nice to meet you mikhail mchale how are you perhaps sensing my slight apprehension mikhail breaks the ice so to speak him with us don't worry we'll take care of him yeah nevertheless says he's an investment banker dividing his time between moscow and new york here on holidays with his two daughters and two female associates how big is the russian community here you say you stay with friends yeah but nobody can calculate but i've got like a dozen of friends here yeah at least maybe two dozens yeah without prompting mckell raises the sensitive issue of the mafia it's all a huge exaggeration he says nothing more than a western conspiracy to prevent honest russian businessmen such as himself from enjoying holidays on the riviera sometimes it's a problem because you always have to request a visa yeah then here and then they can say we are we are on vacation sorry we ran out of paper or whatever some formal excuses yeah and it's a real discrimination to my mind yeah yeah as well as all these cries about the money laundering they're really overshooting somebody in the western world is using it to cover their own adventures let's say yeah i mean where that's my view i am a professional banker so i can say and with that mikhail is off descending into the not so murky depths of the mediterranean [Music] the monte carlo casino monaco's 145 year old high temple but according to french investigators is also home to one of the oldest yet simplest money laundering scams outside it's all strangely reminiscent of a hollywood opening night as the normally camera shy glide in from the dark for a display of conspicuous wealth we've been invited in on the condition we don't film patrons once we're through the front door business is so good the casino is now expanding and we get a sneak preview of the new high roller rooms foreign and when the salon opens you'd better bring your checkbook as the minimum bet will be the equivalent to us dollars tonight the casinos ace croupiers are running a training course but the chips on the table be they franks or euros are still very real so how much is on the table five million friends it's as good as cash yes we if you like we can change now take money and according to investigators that's quite literally how it's done with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of chips purchased then promptly cashed in without ever being placed on the table a simple yet highly effective laundering operation controlled by the italian mafia [Music] such allegations prompt a flat denial from prince albert bowing to french pressure is just ordered an expansion of monaco's minuscule financial control service one of the criticisms was that uh how could a service like that be efficient with only four people managing it for a place like monaco it can be we we've stepped up we've added two more people to that personnel [Music] the end of another busy banking day and monaco's finest are doing their best to prevent us filming an empty street [Music] despite the zeal of the french socialists few expect any real reform here self-interest is always a safe bet and too many paris politicians have been exposed as having secret monaco bank accounts themselves last year they used their influence to keep monaco off an international blacklist of money laundering nations little wonder the bankers are so relaxed as with a little help from the russians the good times roll on [Music] let's use

Channel: Journeyman Pictures

Views: 198,519

Keywords: Journeyman, Journeyman Pictures, Monaco, Mafia, Russian, Prince, Rainier, Riviera, Albert, Money, Laundering, Grace Kelly, Monte Carlo

Id: 5l37Ng61gJc

Length: 24min 28sec (1468 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 05 2018