Did A 28-Year Old Steal $1B And Nearly Bring Down Moldova’s Biggest Banks?

A corporate risk management firm has pointed to a Moldovan banker as “strongly implicated in a scheme whose perpetrators surreptitiously took over banks and lent themselves just under $1 billion. The report, compiled by the U.S. firm Kroll at the behest of Moldova’s central bank, suggests that Moldova’s three largest banks were handed over to new shareholders, at which point the banks “appear to have coordinated to maximize available liquidity, in order to facilitate a massive increase in lending to Moldovan entities,” Bloomberg Business writes, quoting the report. The banker, Ilan Shor, is married to the Russian pop star Jasmine and is one of Moldova’s richest citizens. He claims the allegations are groundless and he is remaining in the country because he doesn’t want to “jeopardize in any way the prosecutors’ activity.”