‘The King of Smuggling’ is an investigative documentary about how a man with vast wealth forced the state to work for him.
‘The King of Smuggling’ is an investigative documentary about how a man with vast wealth forced the state to work for him.
Odesa businessman Vadym Alperin is a billionaire and a highly influential figure among Ukrainian importers. According to law enforcement, he has been running smuggling schemes for a long time. Journalists from Slidstvo.Info obtained, from their own sources, correspondence between the businessman and influential officials, as well as fragments of so-called “black accounts”. After carefully analysing these documents, our team discovered that Mr Alperin had been able to bribe judges, prosecutors and investigators for years to get off scot-free.
Vadym Alperin’s story clearly demonstrates how a person with vast wealth can force the state to work for them. It also shows how they can recruit officials at various levels — who should be working in the public interest — for their own purposes.
