The Man Who Helped Steal a Billion from Moldova Has Been Jailed for 19 Years. His Accomplice Is Hiding Out in Moscow

A court in Chișinău has sentenced Vlad Plahotniuc, once Moldova's richest and most powerful man, to 19 years in prison for his role in the disappearance of nearly a billion dollars from three Moldovan banks — a sum equal to an eighth of the country's annual GDP. Not even 17 fake passports and documents, with which he hid in more than twenty countries for three years, could save him — last year he was caught anyway at Athens airport on his way to Dubai. And just as Moldova, after years of effort, has moved closer to the doors of the European Union, the past is catching up with both masterminds of the "theft of the century": Plahotniuc is behind bars, while his former accomplice Ilan Šor keeps losing in court, even though he himself sits safely in Moscow. Euronews ↗ Al Jazeera ↗

The "Theft of the Century": How an Eighth of GDP Vanished in Three Days

In November 2014, over just three days — between November 24 and 26 — more than 750 million dollars vanished from three Moldovan banks, nearly a billion in total. Banca de Economii, Unibank, and Banca Socială sent each other enormous loans to companies with no business rationale whatsoever, until they collapsed. The government then secretly bailed them out with 870 million dollars from emergency reserves, shifting the burden onto taxpayers. Kroll, the American consulting firm hired by the central bank, later mapped out the network of shell companies; according to investigations and subsequent court rulings, the main beneficiaries of the fraud are considered to be former Prime Minister Vlad Filat, Plahotniuc, Šor, and businessman Veaceslav Platon — all four were eventually prosecuted. OCCRP ↗

The Man Who Took Over the Entire State

Plahotniuc was born in 1966 in the village of Pituşca; he rose in business through oil trading and a post as deputy head of Victoriabank, helped along by ties to the family of communist president Vladimir Voronin. He entered politics in 2010, led the Democratic Party, and from 2016 to 2019 effectively controlled the Moldovan state — the courts, the prosecutor's office, and key institutions. When his power structure collapsed in the summer of 2019, he fled the country. Greek authorities detained him at Athens airport on July 22, 2025, as he was trying to fly to Dubai, and on September 25 he was extradited to Chișinău. Al Jazeera ↗ On April 22, 2026, the court found him guilty of bank fraud, organizing a criminal group, and money laundering, imposed a 19-year sentence, and ordered the confiscation of 60 million dollars from his accounts; the prosecution had sought the maximum of 25 years. His lawyer, Lucian Rogac, called the verdict "manifestly unlawful" and announced an appeal. Euronews ↗ RFE/RL ↗

Ilan Šor: The Second Mastermind Under Moscow's Protection

While Plahotniuc ended up behind bars, his former co-beneficiary Ilan Šor avoided custody. The Israeli-Moldovan businessman, whose companies gradually took control of those banks, fled the country, and Moldova convicted him in absentia — first to 7.5 years, then in 2023 an appeals court doubled the sentence to 15 years and froze his assets. The constitutional court banned his pro-Russian-leaning party. In 2024 he took Russian citizenship, settled in Moscow, and, according to a Financial Times investigation, became a key player in circumventing Western sanctions. Times of Israel ↗ European Interest ↗ But the courts are catching up with him even at a distance: in early June, an appeals court in Chișinău confirmed that he holds unexplained assets exceeding 10 million lei, and he definitively lost his dispute with the anti-corruption agency ANI. Ziarul de Gardă ↗

A Shadow Over the Path to the EU

Why this matters right now: in early June, all 27 EU member states confirmed their readiness to open the first negotiating cluster with Moldova (and Ukraine) — the so-called fundamentals, which measure precisely the functioning of the courts, the rule of law, and basic rights. The path was unblocked when the new Hungarian government withdrew its two-year veto; an intergovernmental conference is expected in mid-June. Slovakia, for its part, has pledged to help Moldova on its European path and to share its own experience. Euronews ↗ And this is exactly where the "theft of the century" becomes a test: the ability to punish one's own oligarchs and recover stolen billions is the yardstick by which Brussels judges whether a country has truly matured. President Maia Sandu has staked her entire mandate on this fight.

What hotinfo Is Following

How Plahotniuc's appeal turns out, and whether the higher court will uphold his 19-year sentence.

How much of the stolen billion is actually recovered — so far the state has recovered only a fraction.

Whether Russia will ever extradite Šor (unlikely), and what role he will play in destabilizing Moldova ahead of the next elections.

Moldova's progress in the first cluster of EU negotiations — particularly the reform of the judiciary and the prosecutor's office.