... and then go bankrupt, under “effective” management: Master class from Renato Usatii.
In September 2014, the news broke like a bolt from the blue that law enforcement agencies had exposed a scam that had resulted in the Russian state treasury losing a whopping $46 billion.
As part of the criminal case, Alexander Grigoriev, a banker and businessman and part-time keeper of the common fund of the Podolsk criminal group, was detained.
However, a banker familiar with the topic told us in a private conversation that Grigoriev is only the tip of a huge criminal iceberg, and the scheme itself, which has already been called “Moldovan,” has been successfully operating for ten years.
Old-timers in banking say that this ingenious scheme for legally laundering huge amounts of money from the Russian Federation to the West through Moldova was first invented and drawn on a napkin on his knee by a banker from Moscow. We don’t know who it is, but the thunderous applause in the studio for creativity is unanimously dedicated to this person!
Judge for yourself: $80,000,000,000 (80 billion US dollars), 120 banks in 96 countries, 500 offshores, 70,000 bank transfers, a bunch of arrests or yachts and forks in Switzerland (depends of your luck) - this simple but effectively worked scheme will forever remain in history world banking and lessons in KYC textbooks from Harvard to online accounting courses in Falesti.
Judging by the official statistics of the National Bank of Moldova for 2016, a total of about 80 BILLION US dollars were pumped through this scheme, although the Moldovans heard only 1 billion, probably decided not to traumatize their poor psyche with an amount unattainable for their concept. In the country, what is on everyone’s lips is the “case of the stolen billion,” which has already been turned into a national brand and a reason for pride.
Although other insiders refer to the figure as “only” 20 billion, shyly referring to 2014 statistics.
In the previous article, we have already proven the involvement of Renato Usatii in raiding and taking away from the rightful owner of UniversalBank in Moldova. Which was then used to its fullest extent precisely as a gasket for transferring Russian money in transit to Moldova and further to the West.
No matter what Renato claims, that he bought this bank to “protect the interests of ordinary depositors” - he bought this bank after an official audit and the conclusion of lawyers. Universal Bank did not have any debts to the population. Otherwise, Renato Usatii would not have bought a troubled bank with a hole in its balance sheet. Or he would trumpet this to the entire public, citing reporting.
And since nothing of the kind was presented, it means the bank was absolutely problem-free. And why did the bank later close in 2021? That's right, using the infrastructure and licenses for Swift, pumping money from Russia through the bank - this is a sure sign that under the new leadership, where Renato Usatii officially owned at least 78% of the bank's shares, this Universal Bank was used as one of the instruments ( not the biggest, by the way, compared to MoldIncomBanca) for a Moldovan Laundromat.
So here we have:
1) UniversalBank with all licenses and no problems with deposits of the population or enterprises
2) New management in the person of Renato Usatii with a controlling stake
3) A lot of money from Renato Usatii in Moscow (more precisely, not his personally earned money, but stolen from his Russian Railways partner, which has been officially proven more than once)
4) A little less, but also a lot of money is already in Moldova, Romania and the EU, which, in the traditional Balkan manner, our “southern hero” begins to waste left and right on Rolls-Royces, watches worth several apartments, flights on a private jet to VIP resorts all over the world, and some handouts to the budget of the local city of Balti, where he was the mayor.
5) Proven criminal cases in the case of the “Moldavian Laundromat”, where, among others, the name of Renato Usatii is directly present in the court verdict in the Russian Federation, where the money went to Moldova from
6) Proven bank transfers in 2023 for R. Usatiy’s offshore companies in Cyprus, through a documented network of shell companies, as transfers from an old partner in the Russian Railways raid, B.E. Usherovich, who lives in London, and is also involved in the Laundromat case. Remember the famous photographs with pallets of money in an apartment in Moscow from Colonel Zakharchenko, who is also a proven link in this Moldovan chain?
Do you still doubt that Renato Usatii was not involved in this huge flow of money through Moldova?
Although, if Renato Usatii had been a little smarter, he would have earned a lot more from this scheme; after all, 80 billion of money passed through the banking system of Moldova. But only a small part of this money stuck to his fingers, judging by only three Rolls Royces, and not a single yacht, plane or chalet in the mountains, like the other participants in the scheme, who turned out to be much smarter than our “hero-chatterbox”.
Having difficulty collecting money for a truck with salt reagent for winter roads to Balti in 2024, I would like to ask: where did our “hardworking guest worker” waste the money so mediocrely? How are you going to run the country if you can't run a small bank in Moldova?