1 00:00:01,349 --> 00:00:04,743 [slow orchestral music] 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 4 00:00:15,580 --> 00:00:19,193 [ominous orchestral music] 5 00:00:55,490 --> 00:00:58,971 [Kevin] Growing up in Texas, I was taught to hate communism, 6 00:00:59,015 --> 00:01:01,365 and mistrust anything to do with Russia, 7 00:01:01,409 --> 00:01:04,847 a shadowy empire operating from behind an Iron Curtain, 8 00:01:04,890 --> 00:01:07,632 hellbent on destroying the American way of life. 9 00:01:12,072 --> 00:01:15,771 When communism fell, we were all supposed to be relieved. 10 00:01:15,814 --> 00:01:17,555 But the paranoia was so ingrained, 11 00:01:17,599 --> 00:01:21,429 -it never truly faded. -[somber music] 12 00:01:21,472 --> 00:01:24,127 Today, America has the world on edge, 13 00:01:24,171 --> 00:01:27,652 with almost 1,000 military bases in every corner of the planet. 14 00:01:27,696 --> 00:01:30,264 But a new type of Cold War has begun, 15 00:01:30,307 --> 00:01:33,136 a war of social media spin and fake news, 16 00:01:33,180 --> 00:01:35,617 causing a climate of political chaos, 17 00:01:35,660 --> 00:01:38,098 making American citizens turn against one another. 18 00:01:40,274 --> 00:01:43,929 My idea was simple, find a country undoubtedly manipulated 19 00:01:43,973 --> 00:01:46,280 by Russia, and search for answers, 20 00:01:46,323 --> 00:01:47,977 in hopes that it could shed light 21 00:01:48,020 --> 00:01:50,501 on the current crisis in the States. 22 00:01:50,545 --> 00:01:53,025 [somber music] 23 00:02:07,953 --> 00:02:10,608 [Kevin] Finally leaving for Bulgaria tomorrow. 24 00:02:10,652 --> 00:02:13,045 My biggest fear, you wanna know my biggest fear is? 25 00:02:13,089 --> 00:02:16,179 -Nothing's gonna happen. -That nothing happens, that's my biggest fear. 26 00:02:16,223 --> 00:02:19,269 My biggest fear is I go there, and everybody's just like, what, life here is great, 27 00:02:19,313 --> 00:02:22,316 -look at it, the weather's great, the food is great. -It's not gonna be like that-- 28 00:02:22,359 --> 00:02:23,230 -Everything's great. -It's not. 29 00:02:23,273 --> 00:02:24,492 [Kevin] Here we go. 30 00:02:24,535 --> 00:02:26,233 [dog barks] 31 00:02:27,756 --> 00:02:29,279 [somber music] 32 00:02:33,631 --> 00:02:37,722 [Kevin] While flying overseas, I logged onto the CIA's official YouTube channel, 33 00:02:37,766 --> 00:02:42,118 and discovered a few fascinating videos, produced right before the fall of communism. 34 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:45,730 [narrator] In recognizing a communist, 35 00:02:45,774 --> 00:02:48,472 physical appearance counts for nothing. 36 00:02:48,516 --> 00:02:51,606 If he openly declares himself to be a communist, 37 00:02:51,649 --> 00:02:53,521 we take his word for it. 38 00:02:53,564 --> 00:02:55,349 [slow orchestral music] 39 00:02:55,392 --> 00:02:57,307 If a person consistently reads, 40 00:02:57,351 --> 00:02:59,222 and advocates the views expressed 41 00:02:59,266 --> 00:03:03,226 in a communist publication, he may be a communist. 42 00:03:04,706 --> 00:03:06,751 If a person supports organizations 43 00:03:06,795 --> 00:03:08,710 which reflect communist teachings, 44 00:03:08,753 --> 00:03:10,581 or organizations labeled communist 45 00:03:10,625 --> 00:03:14,455 by the Department of Justice, she may be a communist. 46 00:03:16,108 --> 00:03:17,893 If a person defends the activities 47 00:03:17,936 --> 00:03:20,069 of communist nations while consistently attacking 48 00:03:20,112 --> 00:03:22,941 the domestic and foreign policy of the United States, 49 00:03:22,985 --> 00:03:24,552 she may be a communist. 50 00:03:26,815 --> 00:03:32,690 If a person does all these things over a period of time, he must be a communist. 51 00:03:33,952 --> 00:03:40,916 But there are other communists who don't show their real faces, who work more silently. 52 00:03:55,322 --> 00:03:58,063 [Kevin] Bulgaria, a tiny country located 53 00:03:58,107 --> 00:03:59,891 on the border of Turkey and Greece, 54 00:03:59,935 --> 00:04:02,242 known for having the world's strongest bacteria, 55 00:04:02,285 --> 00:04:04,505 used for making yogurt. 56 00:04:04,548 --> 00:04:07,290 But regardless of the exceptional bacteria, 57 00:04:07,334 --> 00:04:10,162 Bulgaria had also gained the unfortunate reputation 58 00:04:10,206 --> 00:04:15,080 for having the worst corruption in the entire European Union, and many believe this was due 59 00:04:15,124 --> 00:04:18,649 to the Russian communists, implanting a shadow government, 60 00:04:18,693 --> 00:04:21,173 right before the collapse of the Soviet Union 61 00:04:21,217 --> 00:04:22,392 in the early '90s. 62 00:04:24,829 --> 00:04:28,311 My mission, gain the trust of several insiders, 63 00:04:28,355 --> 00:04:31,706 and attempt to document how Russia manipulates elections, 64 00:04:31,749 --> 00:04:35,579 banking, media, and the judicial system. 65 00:04:35,623 --> 00:04:37,886 [somber music] 66 00:04:59,168 --> 00:05:02,432 [inaudible conversation over phone] 67 00:05:14,009 --> 00:05:16,620 [Kevin] Day one with my new team. There was Milla, 68 00:05:16,664 --> 00:05:20,276 a native born, proud, patriotic Bulgarian, helping with logistics. 69 00:05:21,146 --> 00:05:23,148 Taylor, a young filmmaker who had traveled 70 00:05:23,192 --> 00:05:25,368 with me from Los Angeles, and was the only other American 71 00:05:25,412 --> 00:05:28,328 on the team, my longtime friend, Paul Thomas, 72 00:05:28,371 --> 00:05:30,373 from London, who had been producing documentaries 73 00:05:30,417 --> 00:05:34,464 for many years, Jordan, a Bulgarian auditor by trade, 74 00:05:34,508 --> 00:05:37,032 an activist fighting to end corruption. 75 00:05:39,948 --> 00:05:41,993 [Kevin] Evgeny, a seasoned Bulgarian cameraman 76 00:05:42,037 --> 00:05:44,953 with a magic eye, and then there's Pavel, 77 00:05:44,996 --> 00:05:47,564 the Bulgarian filmmaker, and the joker of the bunch. 78 00:05:47,608 --> 00:05:50,088 -Taylor's here. -That's me. -Yeah, that's Taylor, 79 00:05:50,132 --> 00:05:52,395 that's me, that's Milla, that's the driver, and that's Taylor. 80 00:05:52,439 --> 00:05:55,050 -Ah, you're in front seat. -Yeah. -Yeah. 81 00:05:56,138 --> 00:05:58,270 [Kevin] We needed an inside man, 82 00:05:58,314 --> 00:06:00,447 someone not corrupted by the mafia. 83 00:06:01,230 --> 00:06:03,232 Jordan gave us the contact information 84 00:06:03,275 --> 00:06:06,061 of an independent journalist named Assen Yordanov, 85 00:06:06,104 --> 00:06:09,151 who ran the Bulgarian equivalent of Wikileaks, called Bivol. 86 00:06:19,422 --> 00:06:20,510 [Kevin] Okay. 87 00:06:33,871 --> 00:06:38,615 -[Kevin] Batteries, computer cables, remote controls. -[Taylor] Yeah. 88 00:06:41,836 --> 00:06:44,665 [Kevin] Even though we had not heard back from the journalist, we hit the road, 89 00:06:44,708 --> 00:06:47,102 in hopes of getting our investigation started. 90 00:07:00,289 --> 00:07:02,552 [Kevin] My first impression of driving through the country reminded me 91 00:07:02,596 --> 00:07:06,556 of the 1984 Patrick Swayze movie,Red Dawn, 92 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,037 in which small-town America becomes occupied 93 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:11,300 by Russian forces and Russian culture. 94 00:07:23,181 --> 00:07:26,750 [Kevin] Here in the once occupied country, you could easily see the seams 95 00:07:26,794 --> 00:07:29,405 between the ancient European architecture 96 00:07:29,449 --> 00:07:31,538 and the crappy cement and steel buildings, 97 00:07:31,581 --> 00:07:33,801 left behind by the Soviet Union. 98 00:07:33,844 --> 00:07:36,325 It was easy to tell that this place must have looked 99 00:07:36,368 --> 00:07:39,850 totally different before the 45 years of Russian occupation. 100 00:07:42,462 --> 00:07:45,421 [Kevin] After driving for several hours, we stopped for gas, where I learned 101 00:07:45,465 --> 00:07:47,379 that Russia supplies almost all the fuel 102 00:07:47,423 --> 00:07:50,905 for the European Union through Gazprom and Lukoil. 103 00:07:51,688 --> 00:07:56,040 In a recent Internet data dump, known as the Paradise Papers, it was discovered 104 00:07:56,084 --> 00:07:58,608 that back in 2011, Gazprom, 105 00:07:58,652 --> 00:08:01,350 working through the Russian state bank, VTB, 106 00:08:01,393 --> 00:08:04,092 purchased a 5% stake in Twitter, 107 00:08:04,135 --> 00:08:06,573 and invested a billion dollars in Facebook. 108 00:08:10,751 --> 00:08:15,103 We were finally able to track down the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Assen Yordanov, 109 00:08:15,146 --> 00:08:17,627 who told me that he lived in constant fear, 110 00:08:17,671 --> 00:08:20,412 due to several of his investigations creating damage 111 00:08:20,456 --> 00:08:23,024 to the shadowy figures pulling the strings 112 00:08:23,067 --> 00:08:24,591 from behind a new type of Iron Curtain. 113 00:09:05,632 --> 00:09:07,590 [Kevin] In the Black Sea port of Burgas, 114 00:09:07,634 --> 00:09:10,898 Assen showed us a huge oil refinery owned by Russia. 115 00:09:19,515 --> 00:09:20,908 That's crazy. 116 00:09:44,627 --> 00:09:47,064 [ominous orchestral music] 117 00:09:53,027 --> 00:09:55,159 [background noise drowns out speaker] 118 00:09:55,203 --> 00:09:58,598 [slow orchestral music] 119 00:09:59,599 --> 00:10:00,512 [knocking] 120 00:10:10,871 --> 00:10:11,741 It's pretty crazy. 121 00:10:28,497 --> 00:10:29,367 It's fucked up. 122 00:10:51,868 --> 00:10:54,697 [Kevin] Assen drove us down the Black Sea peninsula, 123 00:10:54,741 --> 00:10:57,700 a highly valuable parcel of land somehow owned 124 00:10:57,744 --> 00:11:01,182 by Russia inside the country of Bulgaria. 125 00:11:33,214 --> 00:11:36,783 [Kevin] With the situation in Syria, the bond between Russia and Turkey has become 126 00:11:36,826 --> 00:11:40,003 a big concern in the West, so when Assen told me 127 00:11:40,047 --> 00:11:42,963 that the heads of the Bulgarian Turkish party own the land 128 00:11:43,006 --> 00:11:46,488 that Bulgaria illegally gave to Russia, I made note 129 00:11:46,531 --> 00:11:49,752 of these two shadowy figures, named Dogan and Peevski. 130 00:12:10,338 --> 00:12:14,342 [ominous music] 131 00:12:14,385 --> 00:12:17,737 [slow electronic music] 132 00:12:19,739 --> 00:12:23,351 [Kevin] Still in the coastal region, Assen suggested we visit a different type 133 00:12:23,394 --> 00:12:28,573 of Russian stronghold, a tourist destination called Sunny Beach, said by many 134 00:12:28,617 --> 00:12:31,707 to be the Cancun of Russia and Eastern Europe. 135 00:12:31,751 --> 00:12:33,840 People came for the prostitutes, drugs, 136 00:12:33,883 --> 00:12:35,624 and cheap counterfeit Russian liquor. 137 00:12:45,939 --> 00:12:48,811 [Kevin] It's rumored that the Sunny Beach policeman's main job is 138 00:12:48,855 --> 00:12:51,466 to make sure tourists don't die from the over-consumption 139 00:12:51,509 --> 00:12:54,730 of discount drugs, alcohol, or the sex. 140 00:12:55,600 --> 00:12:59,561 Ken and I are going fucking crazy, man, woo! 141 00:13:08,831 --> 00:13:13,705 -[pole rattles] -[commotion] 142 00:13:13,749 --> 00:13:14,750 [singing] 143 00:13:17,361 --> 00:13:19,581 [Kevin] Why are you here to party? 144 00:13:34,291 --> 00:13:37,729 [overlapping chattering] 145 00:13:45,128 --> 00:13:47,043 -Do it, do it. -All right, all right. 146 00:13:53,006 --> 00:13:54,355 [Kevin] It's what, bad alcohol? 147 00:13:54,398 --> 00:13:55,399 [overlapping chattering] 148 00:13:55,443 --> 00:13:56,792 [overlapping chattering] 149 00:13:59,969 --> 00:14:00,970 Ugh, it's horrible. 150 00:14:03,712 --> 00:14:06,628 No, man, all right, over here. 151 00:14:06,671 --> 00:14:09,022 [Kevin] The next day, I awoke to a kind of rubbing alcohol, 152 00:14:09,065 --> 00:14:11,459 radiator fluid taste in my mouth. 153 00:14:11,502 --> 00:14:13,243 The booze may have been counterfeit, 154 00:14:13,287 --> 00:14:16,290 but my headache was 100% authentic. 155 00:14:16,333 --> 00:14:19,423 [upbeat big band music] 156 00:14:19,467 --> 00:14:24,733 During the Soviet occupation, Sunny Beach was considered a five star exclusive resort, 157 00:14:24,776 --> 00:14:28,824 a dream destination for only the wealthiest Russians and Bulgarians. 158 00:14:32,045 --> 00:14:34,656 [narrator] Bulgaria was built for the carefree holiday. 159 00:14:36,701 --> 00:14:41,054 [Kevin] But when communism fell, the Russian backed mafia gobbled up all the real estate 160 00:14:41,097 --> 00:14:44,840 on the coast, using un-legislated privatization deals. 161 00:14:46,450 --> 00:14:48,278 I wanted to learn more about the significance 162 00:14:48,322 --> 00:14:50,280 of the Russian mafia controlling the coast, 163 00:14:50,324 --> 00:14:52,065 so we met back up with Assen. 164 00:15:05,774 --> 00:15:07,428 But tell me in English why Americans should care 165 00:15:07,471 --> 00:15:08,995 about what's going on here. 166 00:15:16,916 --> 00:15:20,484 [slow electronic music] 167 00:15:28,928 --> 00:15:30,930 [overlapping chattering] 168 00:15:30,973 --> 00:15:33,367 [Kevin] Starting to feel a little like Chevy Chase, 169 00:15:33,410 --> 00:15:35,891 making Eastern European vacation, 170 00:15:35,935 --> 00:15:38,459 I was having too much fun, but it was time 171 00:15:38,502 --> 00:15:40,069 to get the team, including myself, 172 00:15:40,113 --> 00:15:41,853 into a more disciplined mode. 173 00:15:42,942 --> 00:15:45,901 Assen's comment about Russia being a Trojan horse 174 00:15:45,945 --> 00:15:48,860 inside the EU made me realize I needed to learn more 175 00:15:48,904 --> 00:15:50,688 about how Russia gained its control 176 00:15:50,732 --> 00:15:52,429 over this once sovereign nation. 177 00:15:53,343 --> 00:15:55,563 And as with most stories about 20th century history, 178 00:15:55,606 --> 00:15:58,522 I discovered that Hitler played a major factor. 179 00:15:59,741 --> 00:16:03,223 But I needed to learn more about this country's strange history of becoming one 180 00:16:03,266 --> 00:16:06,226 of the Soviet satellite states at the end of World War II. 181 00:16:08,141 --> 00:16:11,361 Much like Putin got his start by being a KGB agent, 182 00:16:11,405 --> 00:16:14,016 the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov, 183 00:16:14,060 --> 00:16:17,367 got his by being a bodyguard to the communist dictator, 184 00:16:17,411 --> 00:16:20,327 Todor Zhivkov, who ruled for over three decades, 185 00:16:20,370 --> 00:16:22,938 until the fall of the Soviet empire. 186 00:16:22,982 --> 00:16:25,201 But previous to the Russian occupation 187 00:16:25,245 --> 00:16:29,249 was a German aristocrat named Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 188 00:16:30,337 --> 00:16:32,556 The next day, we met up with one of the largest landowners 189 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:35,559 in Bulgaria, now symbolically titled the Tsar. 190 00:16:51,314 --> 00:16:52,663 [Kevin] During the peak of the war, 191 00:16:52,707 --> 00:16:54,665 Simeon's father, King Boris III, 192 00:16:54,709 --> 00:16:56,493 was visited by Hitler, who ordered him 193 00:16:56,537 --> 00:16:59,583 to turn over the 60,000 Jews living in Bulgaria, 194 00:16:59,627 --> 00:17:02,108 so far spared from the Nazi death camps. 195 00:17:03,022 --> 00:17:05,198 When the King refused, Hitler had him poisoned. 196 00:17:06,112 --> 00:17:09,115 As a result of his father's murder, Simeon became the new King 197 00:17:09,158 --> 00:17:11,726 of Bulgaria at the age of six years old. 198 00:17:31,180 --> 00:17:34,314 At the end of World War II, Russia didn't waste any time 199 00:17:34,357 --> 00:17:37,317 in securing the geographically significant country, 200 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:40,537 before it could fall into the hands of the Allies. 201 00:17:40,581 --> 00:17:44,019 What's a memory you have of communism coming? 202 00:17:44,063 --> 00:17:46,935 What was, what was, what was the change? 203 00:18:22,536 --> 00:18:25,104 [Kevin] Okay, so when you say all the people around me were executed, who, who? 204 00:18:31,458 --> 00:18:33,590 All around, you mean, like, your cabinet, like, your political-- 205 00:18:44,862 --> 00:18:47,865 [Kevin] And why were you spared? I mean, then, so you were spared because you were-- 206 00:19:01,575 --> 00:19:06,232 Some of the people I've talked to, maybe you might consider this a conspiracy theory, 207 00:19:06,275 --> 00:19:09,365 I'm not sure, that have told me that 208 00:19:09,409 --> 00:19:12,151 when Russia left, like, through the KGB and, 209 00:19:12,194 --> 00:19:16,503 or other organizations, left a lot of kind of a mafia 210 00:19:16,546 --> 00:19:21,203 in Bulgaria that went onto infiltrate the government. 211 00:19:31,605 --> 00:19:32,475 Of course I would. 212 00:19:38,568 --> 00:19:40,222 [somber music] 213 00:19:48,099 --> 00:19:51,668 [Kevin] After the interview, Jordan was able to get a few minutes with a former king 214 00:19:51,712 --> 00:19:55,019 to express the frustrations he lives with every day. 215 00:20:29,271 --> 00:20:31,752 [somber music] 216 00:20:32,709 --> 00:20:34,798 [Kevin] Oh, poochie, look at this dog. 217 00:20:37,323 --> 00:20:40,064 [Kevin] I came here in search of the big red boogieman. 218 00:20:40,108 --> 00:20:41,979 So when the Tsar openly admitted 219 00:20:42,023 --> 00:20:44,286 that the KGB had rightfully left people 220 00:20:44,330 --> 00:20:46,419 and systems behind after the collapse, 221 00:20:46,462 --> 00:20:48,377 it made me realize that it was time 222 00:20:48,421 --> 00:20:50,510 for me to get beyond my Western thinking. 223 00:20:51,511 --> 00:20:53,991 [somber music] 224 00:20:59,258 --> 00:21:00,781 Perhaps understanding the virtues 225 00:21:00,824 --> 00:21:03,305 of old communism could help me grasp 226 00:21:03,349 --> 00:21:06,308 the current political climate back in the States. 227 00:21:06,352 --> 00:21:07,875 So the team suggested that I talk 228 00:21:07,918 --> 00:21:09,616 to an old architect, made famous 229 00:21:09,659 --> 00:21:11,618 for his massive Soviet monuments. 230 00:21:54,878 --> 00:21:58,055 [Kevin] Everywhere you look, you see endless rows of old Russian style 231 00:21:58,099 --> 00:22:01,015 tenement buildings, they litter the landscape. 232 00:22:01,058 --> 00:22:04,888 This place must have been gorgeous before they built all these places, 233 00:22:04,932 --> 00:22:07,717 but all aesthetics aside, there are people living in these buildings, 234 00:22:07,761 --> 00:22:10,285 so tearing them down would never be an option. 235 00:22:23,429 --> 00:22:25,344 We stopped by the Buzludzha monument 236 00:22:25,387 --> 00:22:28,172 that Georgi Stoilov had designed. 237 00:22:28,216 --> 00:22:30,436 It was a like a giant Russian flying saucer out 238 00:22:30,479 --> 00:22:34,614 of an '80s style future, now abandoned and sealed off. 239 00:22:34,657 --> 00:22:37,965 [choir singing] 240 00:22:45,059 --> 00:22:46,843 [birds chirp] 241 00:22:57,550 --> 00:23:02,511 [Taylor] Okay. Watch your head, Milla, there are harsh sticks. 242 00:23:04,252 --> 00:23:06,907 There are really dangerous sticks above. 243 00:23:09,083 --> 00:23:14,131 -[Kevin whistles] -[overlapping chattering] 244 00:23:18,962 --> 00:23:22,444 So this maybe has something to do with, like, the space race a little bit, maybe? 245 00:23:57,261 --> 00:23:59,089 [somber music] 246 00:23:59,133 --> 00:24:00,743 [Kevin] It's notable that the first human 247 00:24:00,787 --> 00:24:03,616 in space was Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin. 248 00:24:04,834 --> 00:24:08,447 Assen introduced me to an investigator named Zahari Tomaf, 249 00:24:08,490 --> 00:24:10,274 who was hired by an American company 250 00:24:10,318 --> 00:24:12,146 to track down stolen funds. 251 00:24:12,189 --> 00:24:14,801 Zahari declined an on-camera interview, 252 00:24:14,844 --> 00:24:17,020 but told me that Russia often uses the names 253 00:24:17,064 --> 00:24:19,632 of fallen heroes for companies and entities, 254 00:24:19,675 --> 00:24:22,461 left in place for back channel purposes. 255 00:24:22,504 --> 00:24:24,593 In this case, a Bulgarian tobacco company, 256 00:24:24,637 --> 00:24:27,466 named Yurii Gagarin, after the astronaut, 257 00:24:27,509 --> 00:24:30,338 was reportedly linked to the Russian VTB Bank. 258 00:24:31,426 --> 00:24:35,517 Founded in 1963 by Russia, Yuri Gagarin was just one 259 00:24:35,561 --> 00:24:37,519 of an endless array of corporate entities 260 00:24:37,563 --> 00:24:40,304 and offshore accounts left in place by the Soviets. 261 00:24:41,305 --> 00:24:43,307 But in order for all this to run smoothly, 262 00:24:43,351 --> 00:24:45,484 the proper people must stay in power. 263 00:24:45,527 --> 00:24:47,921 [reporter] Bulgaria is struggling to supply water 264 00:24:47,964 --> 00:24:51,490 and electricity to its 6.8 million citizens, 265 00:24:51,533 --> 00:24:54,144 with a voter turnout expected at 50%, 266 00:24:54,188 --> 00:24:56,669 and allegations of fraud, it looks unlikely 267 00:24:56,712 --> 00:24:59,541 that elections will solve Bulgaria's economic woes. 268 00:24:59,585 --> 00:25:03,284 [Kevin] Seemingly unbeatable, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov 269 00:25:03,327 --> 00:25:06,896 is a controversial front man for the former Soviet satellite 270 00:25:06,940 --> 00:25:08,985 and current NATO member, Bulgaria. 271 00:25:09,029 --> 00:25:12,423 Foremost, I want to thank the Prime Minister 272 00:25:12,467 --> 00:25:15,165 for the strong partnership in NATO. 273 00:25:15,731 --> 00:25:19,474 [Kevin] Assen suggested that we go to a small town called Stara Zagora, 274 00:25:19,518 --> 00:25:23,434 where Boyko's government was actively bulldozing the homes of the poor and starving 275 00:25:23,478 --> 00:25:27,787 Roma people, who ironically voted for him, for as little as a sandwich. 276 00:25:30,050 --> 00:25:33,967 We met with the young progressive mayor, Zhivko Todorov. 277 00:25:34,620 --> 00:25:37,492 I mean, are people using the Roma people as a way 278 00:25:37,536 --> 00:25:40,713 to, like, stack votes on a certain party? 279 00:25:54,596 --> 00:25:57,556 [slow folksy music] 280 00:26:00,559 --> 00:26:03,170 [Kevin] Growing up in America, the word gypsy spark images 281 00:26:03,213 --> 00:26:06,042 of mysticism, nomadic fortunetellers. 282 00:26:06,086 --> 00:26:08,741 ♪ Gypsies, tramps, and thieves 283 00:26:08,784 --> 00:26:11,744 ♪ We'd hear it from the people of the town, they call us ♪ 284 00:26:11,787 --> 00:26:15,443 [Kevin] Across Eastern Europe, there are over 10 million Roma people who, 285 00:26:15,486 --> 00:26:18,315 during communism, were forced to plant roots. 286 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:20,666 Ironically, communism was the best thing 287 00:26:20,709 --> 00:26:22,711 to ever happen to most of these nomads, 288 00:26:22,755 --> 00:26:25,322 because it gave them food, shelter, and jobs. 289 00:26:26,062 --> 00:26:28,151 But when communism fell in 1989, 290 00:26:28,195 --> 00:26:31,024 most of these once nomadic people found themselves stuck 291 00:26:31,067 --> 00:26:32,591 in a no-win situation. 292 00:26:36,986 --> 00:26:38,901 On the outskirts of Stara Zagora 293 00:26:38,945 --> 00:26:41,469 was a Roma village called Lozenets. 294 00:26:41,512 --> 00:26:43,602 [people scream] 295 00:27:14,589 --> 00:27:16,286 [overlapping chattering] 296 00:27:16,330 --> 00:27:18,680 [Kevin] We met up with a Roma man named Toshko, 297 00:27:18,724 --> 00:27:21,465 who appeared to be the spokesman for the village. 298 00:27:32,738 --> 00:27:36,045 Manipulating the poor is something that happens in all countries, 299 00:27:36,089 --> 00:27:39,570 but these Roma people were like refugees of the Cold War. 300 00:27:39,614 --> 00:27:41,834 So in hopes of helping our investigation, 301 00:27:41,877 --> 00:27:43,879 I wanted to dig deeper. 302 00:27:43,923 --> 00:27:45,794 Some of the, you know, the gypsies you talk to, 303 00:27:45,838 --> 00:27:48,144 they claim that they do, that they do pay 304 00:27:48,188 --> 00:27:50,277 for their water, they do pay for their electricity, 305 00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:52,627 that they do have the right to have that land there. 306 00:27:52,671 --> 00:27:55,978 Is that all, is that all just talk? Is none of that's real, or is it-- 307 00:28:04,900 --> 00:28:08,730 Right, right, I get it. So they'll all vote for them. 308 00:28:11,820 --> 00:28:13,517 [Kevin] And then once he gets in office, 309 00:28:13,561 --> 00:28:15,345 he's, like, he's out of there. 310 00:28:25,878 --> 00:28:29,577 [Kevin] Toshko's daughter, Toni, was only 12 years old, but for Roma people, 311 00:28:29,620 --> 00:28:33,668 getting married and having babies usually starts at age 14. 312 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:11,184 [Kevin] As a journalist, I know you're not supposed to get personally involved, 313 00:29:11,750 --> 00:29:16,015 but when the Roma people invited us to dinner, how could we refuse? 314 00:29:16,058 --> 00:29:18,713 [upbeat music] 315 00:29:23,326 --> 00:29:25,938 [lively music] 316 00:30:04,672 --> 00:30:08,850 Did you learn any English today? Did she learn English? Does she have a phrase? 317 00:30:08,894 --> 00:30:14,116 -[Taylor] Toni, what color is this? -[translator translates] 318 00:30:15,465 --> 00:30:16,727 [Taylor cheers] 319 00:30:19,339 --> 00:30:21,254 [Kevin] The majority of young Roma girls are sold 320 00:30:21,297 --> 00:30:24,300 by their parents at the local brides mart, 321 00:30:24,344 --> 00:30:26,868 where there's a very good chance they would end up victims 322 00:30:26,912 --> 00:30:31,525 of the massive human trafficking networks orchestrated by the Russian mafia. 323 00:30:31,568 --> 00:30:36,051 Maybe if we could keep one child from becoming a sex slave, it would bring us good luck 324 00:30:36,095 --> 00:30:37,357 for our investigation. 325 00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:41,187 The next day, we hired a private tutor, 326 00:30:41,230 --> 00:30:44,755 but when she discovered that Toni was Roma, she suddenly declined. 327 00:30:44,799 --> 00:30:48,020 What do you mean? You are teacher of Toni, and you just want to speak 328 00:30:48,063 --> 00:30:51,066 about how the lessons are going on and such things. 329 00:30:51,110 --> 00:30:53,199 She said, "No, no, no, I don't want to be part of it." 330 00:30:54,591 --> 00:30:58,508 [Kevin] I soon learned that the racism here was harshly focused on the Roma, 331 00:30:58,552 --> 00:31:00,293 who ironically suffered the worst 332 00:31:00,336 --> 00:31:02,034 from the collapse of communism. 333 00:31:02,904 --> 00:31:07,039 This is what we call an impromptu English lesson in Stara Zagora. 334 00:31:07,082 --> 00:31:10,781 This animal makes a sound. [roars] 335 00:31:16,048 --> 00:31:17,310 What animal is this? 336 00:31:24,099 --> 00:31:26,623 [Kevin] We had to keep moving with our investigation, 337 00:31:26,667 --> 00:31:29,452 but before we left, we decided to help Toni 338 00:31:29,496 --> 00:31:31,890 with a few items that could help her in school. 339 00:31:40,376 --> 00:31:45,599 -Wow. -[Taylor] Wow, that's so cute. 340 00:31:46,992 --> 00:31:49,037 [Toni laughs] 341 00:32:03,095 --> 00:32:07,664 -Film it, film it. -Where's Paul? We should have the other camera going. 342 00:32:10,841 --> 00:32:13,235 [Toni cries] 343 00:32:24,246 --> 00:32:27,380 I mean, this story, Toni's such a magical little creature, 344 00:32:27,423 --> 00:32:30,035 she's so sweet, and so smart, 345 00:32:30,078 --> 00:32:32,559 and she represents everything good, and the fact that 346 00:32:32,602 --> 00:32:35,649 that tutor wouldn't teach her is just, like, gross, 347 00:32:35,692 --> 00:32:40,741 -it speaks to the mental just conflict in this area. -Yeah. 348 00:32:40,784 --> 00:32:43,309 -It's a really great story. -It's crazy racism. 349 00:32:45,354 --> 00:32:49,663 [Kevin] So glad to return to our quiet hotel in Sofia, we were surprised to learn 350 00:32:49,706 --> 00:32:54,973 it was a location of non-stop high school graduation parties going on for an entire week. 351 00:33:02,110 --> 00:33:05,026 [Kevin] Hot cars, clothes, rivers of booze, 352 00:33:05,070 --> 00:33:08,682 and lots of young faces with seemingly bright futures. 353 00:33:08,725 --> 00:33:11,815 The contrast between these young adults and the ones we had left back 354 00:33:11,859 --> 00:33:14,296 at the Roma village couldn't have been any greater. 355 00:33:14,862 --> 00:33:17,082 [upbeat pop music] 356 00:33:26,787 --> 00:33:29,485 [Kevin] Bulgaria is one of the few countries in the entire world 357 00:33:29,529 --> 00:33:31,618 with a shrinking population. 358 00:33:31,661 --> 00:33:34,708 [upbeat pop music] 359 00:33:36,449 --> 00:33:39,843 -[Kevin] Are you gonna stay here after you graduate? -No. 360 00:33:39,887 --> 00:33:43,499 -So why are you leaving? -There is no future in Bulgaria, like, 361 00:33:43,543 --> 00:33:46,111 everything, like, this country is filled 362 00:33:46,154 --> 00:33:50,463 with hate and, like, no tolerance at all, 363 00:33:50,506 --> 00:33:53,509 so I'm probably, I'm, like, I'm definitely, 364 00:33:53,553 --> 00:33:55,946 like, when I was graduating, they asked me, 365 00:33:55,990 --> 00:33:57,818 like, what do you want to do, so, like, 366 00:33:57,861 --> 00:33:59,602 I never, like, staying in Bulgaria 367 00:33:59,646 --> 00:34:02,344 -to study was never an option. -[Kevin] Yeah? 368 00:34:02,388 --> 00:34:04,912 I just had to leave, I know that I have to leave. 369 00:35:00,446 --> 00:35:02,100 [Kevin] With the brightest young adults forced 370 00:35:02,143 --> 00:35:04,189 to leave the country, and the poorest, 371 00:35:04,232 --> 00:35:07,235 least educated being used to rig voting, 372 00:35:07,279 --> 00:35:09,933 I wanted to see if I could discover a direct link 373 00:35:09,977 --> 00:35:12,240 between the former communist mafia 374 00:35:12,284 --> 00:35:16,070 and the election meddling currently happening here and back home. 375 00:35:16,114 --> 00:35:17,245 [somber music] 376 00:35:18,899 --> 00:35:21,380 Milla suggested we meet a young Western thinking politician 377 00:35:21,423 --> 00:35:23,556 who agreed to participate in our film 378 00:35:23,599 --> 00:35:25,949 in hopes that it would expose his country's corruption 379 00:35:25,993 --> 00:35:28,038 to a Western audience. 380 00:35:28,082 --> 00:35:29,779 Tell me a little bit about yourself. 381 00:35:40,050 --> 00:35:43,010 [Kevin] In 2013, Ivaylo ran for Prime Minister 382 00:35:43,053 --> 00:35:46,492 against Boyko Borisov, but according to several experts, 383 00:35:46,535 --> 00:35:49,843 there was proof that Ivaylo got 9% of the vote. 384 00:35:49,886 --> 00:35:52,628 So when Boyko won in an overwhelming landslide, 385 00:35:52,672 --> 00:35:55,936 it became obvious that there was other forces at work. 386 00:36:11,821 --> 00:36:13,910 [Kevin] The next day, Ivaylo called the head members 387 00:36:13,954 --> 00:36:16,391 of his Nova Bulgaria Party in preparation 388 00:36:16,435 --> 00:36:19,394 for his bid to run for mayor of a small town. 389 00:36:19,438 --> 00:36:21,396 After losing so hard to Boyko, 390 00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:23,529 maybe this was a little more realistic. 391 00:36:56,214 --> 00:36:58,999 [Kevin] A few days later, I received a brutal voicemail 392 00:36:59,042 --> 00:37:02,785 from a man who had backed Ivaylo, based upon his promise to bring 393 00:37:02,829 --> 00:37:05,658 honest Western thinking into Bulgarian politics. 394 00:37:17,713 --> 00:37:19,759 [Kevin] According to Ivaylo's Western backer, 395 00:37:19,802 --> 00:37:21,717 Ivaylo had gone against the principles 396 00:37:21,761 --> 00:37:24,677 of the Nova Bulgaria party by making a sudden coalition 397 00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:27,636 with a former communist party called VMRO. 398 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:30,683 Soon after this announcement, a scandalous video surfaced 399 00:37:30,726 --> 00:37:34,861 of VMRO members beating a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses. 400 00:37:34,904 --> 00:37:37,342 The local press accused the former communists 401 00:37:37,385 --> 00:37:39,039 of being white nationalists. 402 00:37:46,394 --> 00:37:48,527 [Kevin] With the nationwide election only days away, 403 00:37:48,570 --> 00:37:50,355 we headed to the tiny farming town 404 00:37:50,398 --> 00:37:52,879 on the outskirts of Sofia called Elin Pelin. 405 00:38:05,718 --> 00:38:07,720 Okay, so then what made him decide Elin Pelin? 406 00:38:28,915 --> 00:38:32,527 -[Kevin] The election is Sunday? -Yes. 407 00:38:33,049 --> 00:38:36,836 Okay, is there any sense right now of, like, polling of where they are in the polls 408 00:38:36,879 --> 00:38:39,012 and where you are in the polls, or, like, in polls? 409 00:38:41,101 --> 00:38:42,798 They're putting you in seventh place right now. 410 00:38:42,842 --> 00:38:45,192 So there's, how many people are running, seven? 411 00:38:46,933 --> 00:38:48,891 Eleven candidates, and he's seven right now, 412 00:38:48,935 --> 00:38:50,850 so what's, wow, okay, well. 413 00:38:52,025 --> 00:38:54,157 What are you gonna do? You better, like-- 414 00:38:55,811 --> 00:38:57,335 He better pull a rabbit out of a hat. 415 00:38:57,378 --> 00:38:58,336 You're gonna win, how? 416 00:39:00,076 --> 00:39:01,600 [Kevin] Learning that billions of dollars were coming 417 00:39:01,643 --> 00:39:03,428 from foreign investors made it clear 418 00:39:03,471 --> 00:39:05,473 why the former communist party of VMRO 419 00:39:05,517 --> 00:39:08,302 would be so interested in a place like Elin Pelin. 420 00:39:09,347 --> 00:39:10,957 [car door slams] 421 00:39:45,339 --> 00:39:46,471 Golden chicken. [laughs] 422 00:39:48,647 --> 00:39:51,606 -[Taylor] Milla, are you excited about voting? -No. 423 00:39:51,650 --> 00:39:53,391 [Kevin] Today you get a choice. 424 00:39:53,913 --> 00:39:56,437 [Kevin] Before heading into one of the municipalities, 425 00:39:56,481 --> 00:39:59,875 I decided to check out some of the other political candidates. 426 00:39:59,919 --> 00:40:02,095 [somber music] 427 00:40:03,226 --> 00:40:05,925 It was discovered in the Paradise Papers data dump 428 00:40:05,968 --> 00:40:07,579 that Russia exerts localized control, 429 00:40:07,622 --> 00:40:10,930 working through each individual municipality. 430 00:40:10,973 --> 00:40:13,585 In Bulgaria, there were 256 mayors, 431 00:40:13,628 --> 00:40:16,370 many acting as a kind of field lieutenant, 432 00:40:16,414 --> 00:40:18,720 a man or a woman living amongst the people. 433 00:40:29,514 --> 00:40:32,038 [somber music] 434 00:40:40,525 --> 00:40:42,004 [Taylor] Great. 435 00:40:47,096 --> 00:40:48,881 ♪ Rolling, rolling 436 00:40:55,670 --> 00:40:57,716 [laughter] 437 00:41:00,240 --> 00:41:02,547 [Kevin] That night, we went to the National Palace of Culture to witness the election returns. 438 00:41:02,590 --> 00:41:05,767 From behind a barrier, we stood with a handful of freezing citizens, 439 00:41:05,811 --> 00:41:09,205 watching a giant TV screen, guarded by police, 440 00:41:09,249 --> 00:41:13,645 as if we might attack the TV, if outraged by the results. 441 00:41:13,688 --> 00:41:16,604 Soon, the returns of the race for mayor were announced, 442 00:41:16,648 --> 00:41:18,867 and to our amazement, Ivaylo had overcome 443 00:41:18,911 --> 00:41:22,480 the incredible odds by beating Boyko's ruling party. 444 00:41:23,568 --> 00:41:26,048 Was this similar to the Russian style meddling happening 445 00:41:26,092 --> 00:41:29,443 back in America, or was Ivaylo just an average man, 446 00:41:29,487 --> 00:41:31,358 doing whatever required to win? 447 00:41:31,401 --> 00:41:33,578 [Kevin] Do you believe he joined the dark side 448 00:41:33,621 --> 00:41:36,058 to win by joining the VMRO? 449 00:41:53,423 --> 00:41:55,861 [somber music] 450 00:41:57,819 --> 00:41:59,821 [Kevin] A few days later, we went to visit Ivaylo 451 00:41:59,865 --> 00:42:02,781 in his new digs, as the mayor of Elin Pelin. 452 00:42:02,824 --> 00:42:04,652 We were just in time for the decision 453 00:42:04,696 --> 00:42:07,089 on how to deal with the local Roma people, 454 00:42:07,133 --> 00:42:08,569 now the election was over. 455 00:42:35,030 --> 00:42:36,989 Let's go inside. 456 00:42:52,657 --> 00:42:55,877 Now, they're, they're claiming the VMRO is 457 00:42:55,921 --> 00:42:57,357 tied into the communists. 458 00:43:12,633 --> 00:43:14,461 No, let's come back here later on-- 459 00:43:15,984 --> 00:43:18,421 Are you sure he's not gonna go somewhere, we're not gonna go somewhere? 460 00:43:18,465 --> 00:43:21,599 All right, all right, have a good one. 461 00:43:32,522 --> 00:43:33,611 [Taylor] Okay. 462 00:43:38,354 --> 00:43:40,792 [Kevin] After accusing Ivaylo of being a communist, 463 00:43:40,835 --> 00:43:43,969 I realize this had little to do with political ideology, 464 00:43:44,012 --> 00:43:45,927 and everything to do with money and control. 465 00:43:52,281 --> 00:43:54,283 When I google Bulgaria, the most significant thing 466 00:43:54,327 --> 00:43:57,199 that pops up is the fact that only a few years ago, 467 00:43:57,243 --> 00:43:59,724 in 2013, they had insane protests. 468 00:44:00,507 --> 00:44:03,292 It was like their own Bulgarian Spring, what happened? 469 00:44:04,729 --> 00:44:06,992 I decided to meet with a young man named Ivaylo Dinev 470 00:44:07,035 --> 00:44:08,820 and his two close counterparts, 471 00:44:08,863 --> 00:44:12,127 who I was told led many of the 2013 protests. 472 00:44:25,488 --> 00:44:29,188 [Kevin] During the big protests, Ivaylo led thousands of students who'd blocked the members 473 00:44:29,231 --> 00:44:32,234 of Parliament in their building for over five hours. 474 00:44:32,278 --> 00:44:34,541 However, the final result of all this was 475 00:44:34,584 --> 00:44:37,892 that he and the other protestors had a major falling out 476 00:44:37,936 --> 00:44:39,285 and a parting of the ways. 477 00:44:51,993 --> 00:44:54,343 [Kevin] With all of this corruption and outside influences, 478 00:44:54,387 --> 00:44:58,434 I wondered why the media wasn't doing anything to expose it all. 479 00:45:33,469 --> 00:45:36,777 [Kevin] When communism fell, Bulgaria became a free for all 480 00:45:36,821 --> 00:45:39,475 for rich, connected oligarchs buying up 481 00:45:39,519 --> 00:45:41,434 and privatizing everything of value 482 00:45:41,477 --> 00:45:42,740 that should belong to the state. 483 00:45:54,490 --> 00:45:58,625 [Kevin] In 2013, with no experience and no qualifications, 484 00:45:58,668 --> 00:46:00,627 Delyan Peevski was suddenly appointed Chief 485 00:46:00,670 --> 00:46:03,848 of Bulgaria's National Security Agency, DANS, 486 00:46:03,891 --> 00:46:06,241 by none other than his own mother. 487 00:46:26,044 --> 00:46:29,787 [Kevin] I discovered a report, titled Media Oligarchs Go Shopping, 488 00:46:29,830 --> 00:46:34,530 listing Delyan Peevski as one of the world's 12 top media oligarchs, 489 00:46:34,574 --> 00:46:37,533 part of a consolidated, shrinking network of ownership 490 00:46:37,577 --> 00:46:40,232 that only serves the political financial interests 491 00:46:40,275 --> 00:46:44,279 of its owners, all basically using the same methods. 492 00:46:45,150 --> 00:46:48,327 [dramatic music] 493 00:46:59,729 --> 00:47:01,557 [Kevin] It was starting to become clear 494 00:47:01,601 --> 00:47:04,256 that although Bulgaria was a tiny place halfway 495 00:47:04,299 --> 00:47:07,259 around the world, it was a perfect microcosm 496 00:47:07,302 --> 00:47:09,304 for things happening in the West. 497 00:47:09,348 --> 00:47:12,568 [dramatic music] 498 00:47:17,399 --> 00:47:21,316 [Kevin] The next day, a new report named Bulgaria as being the most corrupt country 499 00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:23,144 inside the European Union. 500 00:47:24,929 --> 00:47:28,062 Fed up with the worsening corruption inside the government, 501 00:47:28,106 --> 00:47:31,065 an independent group of lawyers and progressive professionals, 502 00:47:31,109 --> 00:47:33,633 calling themselves the Protest Network, 503 00:47:33,676 --> 00:47:35,591 organized a conference to decide how 504 00:47:35,635 --> 00:47:37,637 to rid their country of the mafia. 505 00:47:39,291 --> 00:47:42,337 [audience applauds] 506 00:47:46,254 --> 00:47:49,692 [Kevin] The guest of honor was an outsider named Monica Macovei, 507 00:47:49,736 --> 00:47:52,913 a famous Romanian prosecutor who had quietly worked her way 508 00:47:52,957 --> 00:47:56,264 up the ranks inside the corrupt government of Romania. 509 00:47:56,308 --> 00:47:58,179 But when the time was right, she was able 510 00:47:58,223 --> 00:48:01,008 to put dozens of rich, powerful officials behind bars 511 00:48:01,052 --> 00:48:02,009 for looting the country. 512 00:48:14,108 --> 00:48:16,154 [Kevin] Monica also had active indictments 513 00:48:16,197 --> 00:48:18,591 on over 1,000 more suspected officials. 514 00:48:19,374 --> 00:48:24,118 So what's the difference between corruption in Romania, versus the corruption 515 00:48:24,162 --> 00:48:26,904 that's going on here in Bulgaria? 516 00:49:03,810 --> 00:49:05,986 [Kevin] Monica was obviously putting her life in danger 517 00:49:06,030 --> 00:49:08,641 by coming to Bulgaria, she was very hesitant 518 00:49:08,684 --> 00:49:10,991 to allow me to interview her, but agreed 519 00:49:11,035 --> 00:49:13,994 when we offered to drive her directly back to the airport. 520 00:49:30,358 --> 00:49:32,578 I know, that's what I was just thinking, what is she thinking, like-- 521 00:49:33,535 --> 00:49:36,234 We're taking some weird road. And suddenly, like, this is-- 522 00:49:36,277 --> 00:49:39,498 -Anyone can pretend it's a-- -I know, [laughs] we're just like. 523 00:49:41,674 --> 00:49:44,024 [Kevin] Is there any indication that anything that's going 524 00:49:44,068 --> 00:49:46,984 on here, goes all the way up the ladder to Putin? 525 00:50:19,494 --> 00:50:22,932 [Kevin] Monica's statement about Russia wanting corrupted states reminded me 526 00:50:22,976 --> 00:50:26,284 of an old sitcom I grew up watching, calledGet Smart, 527 00:50:26,327 --> 00:50:29,504 where the Russian KGB was called KAOS, 528 00:50:29,548 --> 00:50:31,506 because if Russia is responsible 529 00:50:31,550 --> 00:50:34,161 for creating chaos today back in the States, 530 00:50:34,205 --> 00:50:37,251 I would have to admit, they are succeeding brilliantly. 531 00:50:46,260 --> 00:50:49,872 [Kevin] Right after I asked if anyone believed that there could be a spy in the room, 532 00:50:49,916 --> 00:50:53,659 a very strange woman started accusing Monica of being a phony. 533 00:51:14,071 --> 00:51:16,073 [crowd boos] 534 00:51:16,725 --> 00:51:20,077 [Kevin] Later that day, she appeared all over the Peevski-owned media 535 00:51:20,120 --> 00:51:25,386 with an alternate version of the conference, calling Monica Macovei a pathetic fraud. 536 00:51:27,954 --> 00:51:32,741 It seemed like she had friends in high places, but I had an idea, 537 00:51:32,785 --> 00:51:35,527 the next day we contacted the Peevski TV station, 538 00:51:35,570 --> 00:51:37,572 and told them an American journalist working 539 00:51:37,616 --> 00:51:40,053 on a cultural travel show wanted to talk 540 00:51:40,097 --> 00:51:42,142 about how great Bulgaria was. 541 00:51:42,186 --> 00:51:45,537 My plan was simple, wait until I was on live TV 542 00:51:45,580 --> 00:51:49,236 so I couldn't be censored, and then defend Monica Macovei 543 00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:53,022 against all the distortions being made by the mafia-owned media. 544 00:51:53,066 --> 00:51:57,244 She said there's been a total of 44 politicians jailed. 545 00:51:58,289 --> 00:52:01,509 If I could trick the Peevski censorship machine, 546 00:52:01,553 --> 00:52:04,556 perhaps it would inspire others to do the same. 547 00:52:04,599 --> 00:52:06,906 Hi, hi, how's it going? 548 00:52:06,949 --> 00:52:08,734 How you doing, hello. 549 00:52:09,735 --> 00:52:11,824 -Hi. -Hello. 550 00:52:11,867 --> 00:52:14,087 Hi, I'm Kevin, nice to meet you, thanks for having us. 551 00:52:40,853 --> 00:52:45,292 [Kevin] As soon as the live show started, I realized my plan had one fatal flaw, 552 00:52:45,336 --> 00:52:47,120 I didn't speak the local language, 553 00:52:47,164 --> 00:52:49,383 and had no way of knowing what was being said. 554 00:52:56,477 --> 00:52:57,957 That's it, that's fine, bye. 555 00:53:03,484 --> 00:53:05,399 Left out the best. 556 00:53:05,443 --> 00:53:07,401 [Kevin] I'll never know if my translation device 557 00:53:07,445 --> 00:53:09,142 was purposefully not working, 558 00:53:09,186 --> 00:53:10,622 but if I ever get another chance 559 00:53:10,665 --> 00:53:12,537 to appear on Bulgarian TV, 560 00:53:12,580 --> 00:53:15,409 I'll use a device not owned by Peevski. 561 00:53:15,453 --> 00:53:18,978 [background noise drowns out speaker] 562 00:53:19,021 --> 00:53:19,892 Yeah. 563 00:53:21,459 --> 00:53:24,375 [Kevin] By the spring of 2014, it's estimated 564 00:53:24,418 --> 00:53:26,551 that Peevski and his mother had borrowed hundreds 565 00:53:26,594 --> 00:53:30,032 of millions of dollars, buying up over 85% 566 00:53:30,076 --> 00:53:31,947 of all the country's media. 567 00:53:31,991 --> 00:53:35,255 The bulk of this debt was to a bank known as the CCB, 568 00:53:35,299 --> 00:53:37,605 Corporate Commercial Bank of Bulgaria. 569 00:53:37,649 --> 00:53:39,694 The bank's main shareholder, Tzvetan Vassilev, 570 00:53:39,738 --> 00:53:41,522 had become suspicious of the Peevskis, 571 00:53:41,566 --> 00:53:43,220 and suddenly demanded full payment. 572 00:53:58,974 --> 00:54:01,107 [Kevin] It was at this time that Peevski unleashed 573 00:54:01,150 --> 00:54:03,065 his Bulgarian media machine on Tzvetan 574 00:54:03,109 --> 00:54:05,938 and his family, by publicly accusing the banker 575 00:54:05,981 --> 00:54:08,897 of attempting to murder him, causing total panic, 576 00:54:08,941 --> 00:54:11,465 and a run on the bank that caused it to close. 577 00:54:21,649 --> 00:54:24,957 So, did you personally lose money on this deal? 578 00:54:26,350 --> 00:54:29,004 Can I ask you exactly how much did you lose? 579 00:54:32,747 --> 00:54:36,447 [Kevin] When the CC Bank collapsed, an American company called Ayr Logistics, 580 00:54:36,490 --> 00:54:40,842 based in Dallas, Texas, also lost 65 million dollars. 581 00:54:40,886 --> 00:54:44,019 Under the watch of the Bulgarian national bank 582 00:54:44,063 --> 00:54:47,893 C.C.B. Conservator an American asset 583 00:54:47,936 --> 00:54:52,071 of sixty five million dollars grew legs and walked away 584 00:54:52,114 --> 00:54:56,815 to the detriment of a U.S. company and to the detriment of 585 00:54:57,294 --> 00:55:00,209 the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings creditors. 586 00:55:00,253 --> 00:55:03,561 [Kevin] The money had been deposited into the Bulgarian bank after the sale 587 00:55:03,604 --> 00:55:06,564 of a local real estate investment, north of Sunny Beach. 588 00:55:07,391 --> 00:55:10,307 [Sylvia J. Rolinsky, Esq.] The taking of the sixty five million 589 00:55:10,350 --> 00:55:15,181 orchestrated by Peevski to pay off five company debts 590 00:55:16,051 --> 00:55:19,011 which related to call options 591 00:55:19,664 --> 00:55:24,930 that were being controlled through the Russian V.T.B. bank. 592 00:55:37,725 --> 00:55:41,250 [Kevin] Trying to get one of these shadowy figures to talk on film was never gonna happen. 593 00:55:41,294 --> 00:55:45,254 However, due to Tzvetan Vassilev's vulnerable situation, 594 00:55:45,298 --> 00:55:47,561 it could be in his best interest to talk. 595 00:55:48,606 --> 00:55:51,173 We contacted an anonymous insider, 596 00:55:51,217 --> 00:55:54,351 and hoped to hear back from Tzvetan with bated breath. 597 00:55:55,874 --> 00:55:59,660 In the meantime, while investigating Peevski's bank records, 598 00:55:59,704 --> 00:56:01,619 the team discovered two huge homes, 599 00:56:01,662 --> 00:56:05,710 side by side, camouflaged by a much poorer area. 600 00:56:43,878 --> 00:56:45,837 Ah. Wow. 601 00:57:23,396 --> 00:57:26,399 This is it, this is the moment we've been waiting for. 602 00:57:26,443 --> 00:57:28,183 We're standing out close to this place, 603 00:57:28,227 --> 00:57:31,012 next to Peevski's house, and we're launching the drone. 604 00:57:34,407 --> 00:57:36,496 This is our third attempt at trying 605 00:57:36,540 --> 00:57:40,761 to fly over Peevski's house, can you see the house? 606 00:57:40,805 --> 00:57:46,680 Yeah, this is the street, and on the left and right, the buildings. 607 00:57:48,334 --> 00:57:51,468 [Kevin] You know, we have no idea what the reaction would be, or, 608 00:57:51,511 --> 00:57:56,081 there's been a lot of tension about doing this, a lot of warnings. 609 00:57:56,124 --> 00:57:58,300 You wouldn't really guess what we're doing, we're kind of just, 610 00:57:58,344 --> 00:58:00,955 like, standing here, it doesn't really look like we're flying a drone, 611 00:58:00,999 --> 00:58:03,958 we're just kind of standing here in the bushes with cameras. 612 00:58:05,656 --> 00:58:07,484 Uhm, posing as just tourists. 613 00:58:08,702 --> 00:58:14,142 People say that Peevski is the Al Capone of Bulgaria. 614 00:58:15,709 --> 00:58:19,104 [Kevin] According to our researchers, these two massive homes belong 615 00:58:19,147 --> 00:58:23,543 to Peevski and his mother, kind of the ultimate mother-in-law plan. 616 00:58:23,587 --> 00:58:25,545 But because of all their scandals, they were able 617 00:58:25,589 --> 00:58:28,635 to alter the official tax records in order to make it look 618 00:58:28,679 --> 00:58:32,509 as if they do not own any such properties inside Bulgaria. 619 00:58:32,552 --> 00:58:34,119 If we could get an actual glimpse of one 620 00:58:34,162 --> 00:58:36,600 of the Peevskis inside one of these homes, 621 00:58:36,643 --> 00:58:38,645 it would be a massive scandal. 622 00:58:41,909 --> 00:58:43,955 [Kevin] This could be somebody. 623 00:58:45,913 --> 00:58:47,132 [drone whines] 624 00:58:52,398 --> 00:58:55,140 [Kevin] And we go, damn, we should have got that insurance. 625 00:58:55,183 --> 00:58:57,708 [overlapping chatter] 626 00:58:57,751 --> 00:59:01,712 And we're probably not gonna get the best price, either, by buying it here in Sofia. 627 00:59:01,755 --> 00:59:04,932 [Kevin] Trying to get any dirt on these shadowy figures was proving 628 00:59:04,976 --> 00:59:07,195 to be harder than I anticipated, 629 00:59:07,239 --> 00:59:09,458 so it was time to change our tactics. 630 00:59:09,502 --> 00:59:12,549 Hey, these things happen, right? At least no one got hurt. 631 00:59:12,592 --> 00:59:15,682 [Kevin] While Tzvetan Vassilev remained the most wanted man 632 00:59:15,726 --> 00:59:18,685 in Bulgaria, we had one thing the entire media machine 633 00:59:18,729 --> 00:59:22,515 of the country didn't, a journalist not working for Peevski. 634 00:59:23,472 --> 00:59:25,257 So I don't really, I don't know you that well, 635 00:59:25,300 --> 00:59:28,303 but, you know, a little, American style gift. 636 00:59:29,957 --> 00:59:32,394 And I don't know if this is the kind of thing you would like or not. 637 00:59:38,400 --> 00:59:41,055 I don't know, I mean, if you drink or not. 638 00:59:42,013 --> 00:59:43,144 You like to drink, all right. 639 00:59:47,322 --> 00:59:48,672 [Kevin] Company registration in Lichtenstein. 640 00:59:53,111 --> 00:59:54,112 Okay. 641 01:00:07,168 --> 01:00:09,693 Yeah, accusing Peevski's mother. 642 01:00:13,305 --> 01:00:16,743 But this is also accusing Tzvetan of the same thing, right? 643 01:00:19,006 --> 01:00:21,487 [Kevin] Knowing he would never get a fair trial in Bulgaria, 644 01:00:21,530 --> 01:00:23,663 Tzvetan and his family did the only thing 645 01:00:23,707 --> 01:00:26,623 they could do to protect their lives, they fled the country. 646 01:00:34,718 --> 01:00:36,633 At the same time, an angry mob 647 01:00:36,676 --> 01:00:39,070 who had lost their money in the sudden bank run, 648 01:00:39,113 --> 01:00:41,333 gathered in front of the failed bank, complete 649 01:00:41,376 --> 01:00:44,597 with an amazingly accurate Tzvetan Vassilev lookalike. 650 01:00:44,641 --> 01:00:47,948 I couldn't help but wonder if the Peevski machine was 651 01:00:47,992 --> 01:00:50,603 behind this perfectly staged demonstration. 652 01:00:50,647 --> 01:00:53,562 [people chanting] 653 01:00:55,564 --> 01:00:57,697 [Kevin] The team met up to watch coverage 654 01:00:57,741 --> 01:01:01,179 of Tzvetan's extradition trial, happening in Serbia. 655 01:01:01,222 --> 01:01:04,573 There he is. Assen, you're missing it. 656 01:01:09,404 --> 01:01:11,319 A few seconds after it was announced 657 01:01:11,363 --> 01:01:13,887 that the Serbian government would protect Tzvetan 658 01:01:13,931 --> 01:01:16,150 against Peevski, Assen received 659 01:01:16,194 --> 01:01:19,240 an encrypted message containing a secret rendezvous location 660 01:01:19,284 --> 01:01:21,721 of Bulgaria's most wanted fugitive. 661 01:01:21,765 --> 01:01:24,419 So we hit the road in hopes of meeting the one man 662 01:01:24,463 --> 01:01:27,684 who truly understood the cost of Russian style manipulation. 663 01:01:29,598 --> 01:01:31,731 What's the Serbian national anthem, sing it. 664 01:01:33,428 --> 01:01:35,604 Come on, you guys don't know the Serbian national anthem? 665 01:01:37,868 --> 01:01:39,304 [Kevin] What do you know about Serbia? 666 01:01:52,534 --> 01:01:53,535 Looking like a huge what? 667 01:01:54,580 --> 01:01:55,450 What's that? 668 01:01:59,367 --> 01:02:00,325 Like a pastry? 669 01:02:03,371 --> 01:02:06,287 [Kevin] If Tzvetan Vassilev was sitting right here, 670 01:02:06,331 --> 01:02:07,985 what would you say to him? 671 01:02:26,264 --> 01:02:28,222 [Kevin] We were instructed not to bring any cameras 672 01:02:28,266 --> 01:02:30,137 or cellphones to our initial meeting. 673 01:02:31,182 --> 01:02:32,966 In the street, we were unexpectedly met 674 01:02:33,010 --> 01:02:35,142 by two plainclothes policemen who escorted us 675 01:02:35,186 --> 01:02:37,710 into the hotel lobby, where another team 676 01:02:37,754 --> 01:02:41,975 of Tzvetan's personal security searched us, and ran background checks. 677 01:02:42,019 --> 01:02:44,978 We were then led into a very nice Serbian grill restaurant, 678 01:02:45,022 --> 01:02:47,894 where we were joined by Tzvetan and his wife. 679 01:02:49,026 --> 01:02:50,984 For the next few hours, we got to know each other, 680 01:02:51,028 --> 01:02:52,943 and once Tzvetan became comfortable, 681 01:02:52,986 --> 01:02:55,075 his security gave us instructions 682 01:02:55,119 --> 01:02:57,599 to a location where we could conduct our interview. 683 01:02:58,165 --> 01:03:03,170 -[slow piano music] -[background chattering] 684 01:03:14,181 --> 01:03:15,226 Rolling? 685 01:03:16,836 --> 01:03:18,098 [claps] 686 01:03:23,712 --> 01:03:26,193 [Kevin] Because of how much money his bank had lent, 687 01:03:26,237 --> 01:03:29,153 many of Tzvetan's detractors say they had a hard time 688 01:03:29,196 --> 01:03:32,286 believing he wasn't aware of Peevski's criminal enterprises. 689 01:04:04,710 --> 01:04:07,713 [somber music] 690 01:04:07,756 --> 01:04:10,455 [Kevin] How did his mother come upon all this wealth and power? 691 01:04:21,640 --> 01:04:23,076 Wow. [laughs] 692 01:04:32,303 --> 01:04:36,307 [Kevin] Accusing your enemies of attempted murder was KGB 101. 693 01:04:36,350 --> 01:04:39,310 -[screams] -[audience cries out] 694 01:04:39,353 --> 01:04:42,095 [Kevin] In 2013, the head of Peevski's Turkish party, 695 01:04:42,139 --> 01:04:45,098 Ahmed Dogan, staged his own assassination, 696 01:04:45,142 --> 01:04:48,406 creating a groundswell of support, leading to his victory. 697 01:04:49,363 --> 01:04:53,280 The man with the fake gun served a very short sentence. 698 01:04:53,324 --> 01:04:57,067 So it came as no surprise when Peevski applied the same winning strategy 699 01:04:57,110 --> 01:05:00,113 towards the banker, in order to put the final death nail 700 01:05:00,157 --> 01:05:01,985 in his Bulgarian coffin. 701 01:05:40,849 --> 01:05:43,374 [somber music] 702 01:05:43,417 --> 01:05:45,419 What kind of personal relationship 703 01:05:45,463 --> 01:05:47,508 did you ever have with Peevski? 704 01:05:49,641 --> 01:05:51,034 Did you ever have a personal relationship with him? 705 01:06:16,581 --> 01:06:20,367 [Kevin] We interviewed Tzvetan for over four solid hours, 706 01:06:20,411 --> 01:06:23,153 but the only time he gave us specific banking details 707 01:06:23,196 --> 01:06:26,025 about Peevski and the former KGB mafia 708 01:06:26,069 --> 01:06:28,593 was during breaks away from our cameras. 709 01:06:49,744 --> 01:06:53,705 [Kevin] Tzvetan told us so many schemes, it could fill an encyclopedia, 710 01:06:53,748 --> 01:06:56,925 but we needed just one lead that we could follow for the film. 711 01:07:13,159 --> 01:07:16,380 [Kevin] Assen published several articles about a Bulgarian tobacco company 712 01:07:16,423 --> 01:07:18,904 that he claimed once belonged to the people, 713 01:07:18,947 --> 01:07:21,341 but now mostly belonged all to Peevski. 714 01:07:22,342 --> 01:07:24,823 [somber music] 715 01:07:46,453 --> 01:07:48,542 [Kevin] Bulgartabac is the Balkan equivalent 716 01:07:48,586 --> 01:07:51,241 of the American conglomerate, RJ Reynolds, 717 01:07:51,284 --> 01:07:53,808 supplying tobacco for many brands, 718 01:07:54,592 --> 01:07:59,640 brands like Trump Flights, Eva Slims, M&Ms, Opal, Select, 719 01:08:00,163 --> 01:08:04,776 Rex, Kenton, Okay, Stewardess, and Prestige. 720 01:08:28,713 --> 01:08:31,542 [Kevin] Protecting its own black market trade routes 721 01:08:31,585 --> 01:08:34,066 is top priority for the Russian mafia. 722 01:08:40,028 --> 01:08:42,118 If I could understand how privatizing something 723 01:08:42,161 --> 01:08:45,512 like a tobacco company gives its owning oligarchs 724 01:08:45,556 --> 01:08:48,689 the ability to move money and products unimpeded 725 01:08:48,733 --> 01:08:52,650 across borders, it would be an amazing glimpse into a mode 726 01:08:52,693 --> 01:08:54,478 of doing things that is now happening 727 01:08:54,521 --> 01:08:57,307 with America's largest competitor, China. 728 01:09:01,311 --> 01:09:03,487 Driving overnight back into Bulgaria, 729 01:09:03,530 --> 01:09:07,099 I could feel a sense of relief amongst our Bulgarian crew, 730 01:09:07,143 --> 01:09:09,971 good to be home, yes, but as it turns out, 731 01:09:10,015 --> 01:09:12,583 they had serious doubts that we could meet Tzvetan 732 01:09:12,626 --> 01:09:16,282 in Serbia without being tracked by the former Soviet mafia. 733 01:09:58,759 --> 01:10:02,981 [Kevin] The next morning, we arrived at the Bulgartabac headquarters, back in Sofia. 734 01:10:28,746 --> 01:10:31,052 [Kevin] A former CIA acquaintance recommended 735 01:10:31,096 --> 01:10:33,707 that we travel into Turkey, and meet with a man 736 01:10:33,751 --> 01:10:35,883 who had dedicated his life to fighting ISIS. 737 01:10:39,931 --> 01:10:43,282 If we could connect the dots between the old Soviet trade network's privatized 738 01:10:43,326 --> 01:10:48,200 tobacco company and the modern war on terror, it could be huge. 739 01:10:48,244 --> 01:10:49,723 [city noises] 740 01:10:55,120 --> 01:10:57,775 [Kevin] Look at this. 741 01:10:57,818 --> 01:11:01,039 Here, get a shot of this, who would have ever thought, in the middle of all these things? 742 01:11:01,082 --> 01:11:02,693 [Taylor] I know, who would have ever thought? 743 01:11:03,563 --> 01:11:06,479 The equipment we need to spy on them is right here. 744 01:11:12,268 --> 01:11:16,054 [Kevin] Apparently they have a place out in the open. 745 01:11:16,097 --> 01:11:19,492 [Paul] A launchpad, a proper launchpad. 746 01:11:20,101 --> 01:11:22,234 Oh, yeah, this is awesome. 747 01:11:24,367 --> 01:11:27,283 This is almost worth the 4,000 bucks, right here. 748 01:11:27,326 --> 01:11:29,110 Well, as, I'd rather break here. 749 01:11:31,417 --> 01:11:36,727 -[drone chirps] -[background chattering] 750 01:11:42,210 --> 01:11:46,171 [drone whines] 751 01:11:46,214 --> 01:11:49,305 [oriental chanting] 752 01:11:49,348 --> 01:11:51,481 [Kevin] Most Americans, including myself, couldn't point 753 01:11:51,524 --> 01:11:54,919 to Bulgaria on a map, but driving from Sofia 754 01:11:54,962 --> 01:11:59,010 to Istanbul made me realize its geographical significance, 755 01:11:59,053 --> 01:12:03,493 a true crossroads between Europe and the Middle East, Russia, and America. 756 01:12:03,536 --> 01:12:06,017 [oriental music] 757 01:12:08,411 --> 01:12:10,674 In Istanbul, we met up with Dr. Ahmet Yela, 758 01:12:10,717 --> 01:12:13,111 who had infiltrated an ISIS social network 759 01:12:13,154 --> 01:12:15,069 while working undercover in Aleppo. 760 01:12:34,175 --> 01:12:37,527 [slow electronic music] 761 01:12:37,570 --> 01:12:42,227 [Kevin] Posing as an ISIS member inside the network, Ahmet was able to download thousands 762 01:12:42,270 --> 01:12:45,926 of execution videos, and had one in particular he wanted to show us. 763 01:12:46,710 --> 01:12:51,323 [Kevin] Yeah, I mean, the camera work looks amazing, I mean, this looks better than our film. 764 01:13:01,115 --> 01:13:02,595 Those aren't Prestige cigarettes, are they? 765 01:13:02,639 --> 01:13:05,032 Those are Prestige cigarettes? Oh, my god. 766 01:13:05,076 --> 01:13:08,688 -Let's see. [chuckles] -Bulgartabac in the frame. 767 01:13:11,343 --> 01:13:16,479 Researching the past five years of Bulgartabac's finances revealed a curious anomaly. 768 01:13:16,522 --> 01:13:19,525 Back in 2009, the Balkan tobacco giant showed 769 01:13:19,569 --> 01:13:22,223 a massive increase in exports. 770 01:13:22,267 --> 01:13:25,139 Curiously, at the same time, ISIS was gaining strength 771 01:13:25,183 --> 01:13:26,837 under the leadership of al-Baghdadi. 772 01:13:28,795 --> 01:13:33,539 This Peevski in Bulgaria, he could ship in, 773 01:13:33,583 --> 01:13:36,194 say, truckloads of cigarettes off the books, 774 01:13:36,237 --> 01:13:38,718 and have 'em shipped in. And then, what? 775 01:13:38,762 --> 01:13:40,590 He gets cash under the table for doing that 776 01:13:40,633 --> 01:13:43,419 and then in turn that helps finance ISIS? 777 01:13:58,825 --> 01:14:01,001 -[Taylor] This is a party bus. -[Kevin] It looks like a disco. 778 01:14:01,045 --> 01:14:02,916 [Taylor] It is like a party bus. 779 01:14:02,960 --> 01:14:05,092 [Kevin] Before heading back into Bulgaria, 780 01:14:05,136 --> 01:14:07,268 Milla bought us a wishing lantern, 781 01:14:07,312 --> 01:14:10,271 with hopes that it would fly ahead and bring us luck. 782 01:14:11,447 --> 01:14:15,059 [overlapping chattering] 783 01:14:17,453 --> 01:14:19,585 [overlapping chattering] 784 01:14:19,629 --> 01:14:21,892 -[Taylor] Should we let it go? -[Kevin] Bring it lower to the ground. 785 01:14:23,023 --> 01:14:28,420 No, it's not going to happen. Okay, it's flying. 786 01:14:28,464 --> 01:14:30,378 -[Taylor] Let it go, it's flying-- -It's flying, it's flying. 787 01:14:30,422 --> 01:14:31,467 [Taylor] Watch out, everybody. 788 01:14:31,510 --> 01:14:34,470 [overlapping chattering] 789 01:14:39,387 --> 01:14:42,260 -He knows what he's doing. -[Taylor] He knows what he's doing, let's go with this guy. 790 01:14:42,303 --> 01:14:43,522 [Paul] Kid to the rescue. 791 01:14:43,566 --> 01:14:44,915 [Taylor] What do you do? 792 01:14:49,528 --> 01:14:52,096 -[Paul] Kid to the rescue. -[Taylor] Kid to the rescue. 793 01:14:52,575 --> 01:14:56,404 [Kevin] Most Turkish people we spoke to, knew very little about their ancient neighbors 794 01:14:56,448 --> 01:14:58,929 to the north, and yet the two countries share 795 01:14:58,972 --> 01:15:03,063 over five centuries of brutality and peace. 796 01:15:03,107 --> 01:15:08,068 -[group cheers] -[overlapping chattering] 797 01:15:09,505 --> 01:15:12,856 [Kevin] With such a tragic history of manipulation by outsiders, 798 01:15:12,899 --> 01:15:15,293 I could only hope, for the young members of our team, 799 01:15:15,336 --> 01:15:17,600 that Bulgaria will eventually find security, 800 01:15:17,643 --> 01:15:20,733 without the eastern or western superpowers. 801 01:16:00,904 --> 01:16:03,254 [somber music] 802 01:16:53,565 --> 01:16:57,351 [Kevin] As an American, visiting Turkey felt like a Middle Eastern neighborhood 803 01:16:57,395 --> 01:17:01,051 in New York, but crossing back into Bulgaria reminded me 804 01:17:01,094 --> 01:17:03,227 of just how far from home I really was. 805 01:17:07,666 --> 01:17:09,363 Have a seat for a while? [laughs] 806 01:17:14,891 --> 01:17:17,676 [somber music] 807 01:17:22,333 --> 01:17:25,510 [Kevin] The next day, we went to one of Assen's secret locations 808 01:17:25,553 --> 01:17:28,426 to see if we could get any more information on Bulgartabac. 809 01:17:36,956 --> 01:17:38,828 [Kevin] A random custom's inspection 810 01:17:38,871 --> 01:17:41,395 of the Bulgartabac facility exposed 811 01:17:41,439 --> 01:17:44,485 that the factory was illegally running around the clock, 812 01:17:44,529 --> 01:17:47,793 most likely manufacturing off the book cigarettes. 813 01:18:03,722 --> 01:18:05,724 [Kevin] Unable to restore the 65 million dollars lost 814 01:18:05,768 --> 01:18:09,293 in the Peevski bank takeover, the Dallas-based company, 815 01:18:09,336 --> 01:18:12,731 Ayr Logistics, was forced to file for bankruptcy, 816 01:18:12,775 --> 01:18:15,038 initiating an American-backed investigation 817 01:18:15,081 --> 01:18:18,302 that connected Bulgartabac and the communication giant, 818 01:18:18,345 --> 01:18:22,219 Vivacom, back to Peevski and the Russian state bank, VTB. 819 01:18:22,262 --> 01:18:25,613 [TV reporter] VTB held two call options for 820 01:18:25,657 --> 01:18:30,967 the Bulgartabac holdings and Vivacom. 821 01:18:31,010 --> 01:18:35,536 One gave access to Bulgartabac through the Middle East market 822 01:18:36,581 --> 01:18:41,368 and the other gave access to telecommunications, 823 01:18:42,413 --> 01:18:45,895 including strategic sector significance, like NATO 824 01:18:47,200 --> 01:18:51,944 communication, satellites information, airplane security. 825 01:18:52,858 --> 01:18:57,080 This allows Russia to participate and have control 826 01:18:57,123 --> 01:19:00,692 and finance certain segments from that revenue. 827 01:19:01,737 --> 01:19:05,218 [Kevin] Assen suggested that we go to the main Bulgartabac factory 828 01:19:05,262 --> 01:19:07,568 in a remote mountain town called Blagoevgrad. 829 01:19:08,395 --> 01:19:10,397 [Kevin] What does VTB stand for? 830 01:19:19,363 --> 01:19:21,408 [Kevin] The American-backed investigation done 831 01:19:21,452 --> 01:19:24,150 by attorney, Zahari Tomaf, discovered 832 01:19:24,194 --> 01:19:27,850 that the Russian VTB's interest in Bulgartabac was twofold. 833 01:19:27,893 --> 01:19:30,809 One, maintain control over the manufacture 834 01:19:30,853 --> 01:19:32,724 and distribution of all their cigarette brands 835 01:19:32,768 --> 01:19:35,422 in the Middle East markets, including Syria, 836 01:19:35,466 --> 01:19:39,383 Iran, and Iraq, in direct violation of UN sanctions, 837 01:19:39,426 --> 01:19:42,299 and two, Russia would then use these profits 838 01:19:42,342 --> 01:19:45,911 to finance its long arm of regional control in the Middle East. 839 01:19:47,173 --> 01:19:49,219 [drone whines] 840 01:19:52,526 --> 01:19:56,879 After only a few minutes of snooping around, several security guards dressed in black 841 01:19:56,922 --> 01:19:58,576 -began rushing towards our van. 842 01:20:00,491 --> 01:20:03,581 [Kevin] I had never used a bodyguard, but just the night before, 843 01:20:03,624 --> 01:20:05,583 a friend of mine operating a non-profit 844 01:20:05,626 --> 01:20:08,629 in Sofia insisted we use one of his men. 845 01:20:17,116 --> 01:20:19,249 [Kevin] When the men realized I was an American 846 01:20:19,292 --> 01:20:21,338 with a legally armed Bulgarian guard, 847 01:20:21,381 --> 01:20:23,296 they instantly backed down, 848 01:20:23,340 --> 01:20:25,124 but they still insisted we leave. 849 01:20:25,690 --> 01:20:26,996 [Taylor] Time to go? 850 01:20:27,039 --> 01:20:29,650 -Yeah, go. -[Taylor] Okay. 851 01:20:31,870 --> 01:20:32,784 [car door slams] 852 01:20:35,091 --> 01:20:37,571 [somber music] 853 01:20:40,400 --> 01:20:44,709 [Kevin] I googled the name Ipon Security from the men's uniforms, and I discovered 854 01:20:44,752 --> 01:20:46,754 that they were the private security force for 855 01:20:46,798 --> 01:20:48,887 the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov. 856 01:21:08,820 --> 01:21:13,520 [Kevin] Assen told me that Bulgaria and the other countries that Russia seeks control over 857 01:21:13,564 --> 01:21:16,349 exist between the chief prosecutors. 858 01:21:25,837 --> 01:21:30,798 [Kevin] As it just so happen, Putin's right hand man, Chief Prosecutor Yury Chaika, 859 01:21:30,842 --> 01:21:33,410 was recently spotted having undocumented meetings 860 01:21:33,453 --> 01:21:36,848 with the Chief Prosecutor of Bulgaria, Sotir Tsatsarov. 861 01:21:49,861 --> 01:21:51,950 [somber music] 862 01:21:51,994 --> 01:21:54,431 [Kevin] The famous Russian activist punk band, 863 01:21:54,474 --> 01:21:56,041 playfully named Pussy Riot, 864 01:21:56,085 --> 01:21:58,739 put out a music video titledChaika, 865 01:21:58,783 --> 01:22:01,264 showing how the Russian prosecutor uses the power 866 01:22:01,307 --> 01:22:04,006 of Putin to destroy enemies and ensure success 867 01:22:04,049 --> 01:22:05,964 for family and comrades. 868 01:22:11,230 --> 01:22:14,277 With Russia, Turkey, and America all 869 01:22:14,320 --> 01:22:17,933 at Bulgaria's doorstep, it felt like there was a lot at stake. 870 01:22:27,203 --> 01:22:29,988 [Kevin] The team was running on fumes, but the discovery 871 01:22:30,032 --> 01:22:32,164 that several countries could all be controlled 872 01:22:32,208 --> 01:22:34,297 by a single prosecutor might be 873 01:22:34,340 --> 01:22:36,386 the breakthrough I'd been searching for. 874 01:22:40,346 --> 01:22:43,393 Through a series of Assen's connections, we're able to get a few minutes 875 01:22:43,436 --> 01:22:47,223 with an insider whose life is dedicated to exposing this fraud. 876 01:22:49,486 --> 01:22:52,184 First of all, I mean, do you feel like this system 877 01:22:52,228 --> 01:22:55,709 of corruption, has this, has this leaked in 878 01:22:55,753 --> 01:22:57,842 from another country, I mean, is this, 879 01:22:57,885 --> 01:23:00,976 is this type of, of way of controlling people 880 01:23:01,019 --> 01:23:03,021 through the prosecution, I mean, 881 01:23:03,065 --> 01:23:04,631 is this a Bulgarian invention, 882 01:23:04,675 --> 01:23:06,285 or is this a Russian invention, 883 01:23:06,329 --> 01:23:08,984 or is this a mafia invention? 884 01:23:09,027 --> 01:23:11,638 Who invented this form of blackmailing 885 01:23:11,682 --> 01:23:13,249 through the prosecution office? 886 01:23:57,641 --> 01:24:00,209 [Kevin] On April 15th, 2016, 887 01:24:00,252 --> 01:24:02,646 over 11.5 million documents were leaked 888 01:24:02,689 --> 01:24:04,865 from one of the world's largest law firms, 889 01:24:04,909 --> 01:24:08,695 located in Panama, with offices all over the globe. 890 01:24:08,739 --> 01:24:11,611 The documents contained secret attorney - client information 891 01:24:11,655 --> 01:24:14,745 for over 200,000 offshore entities. 892 01:24:14,788 --> 01:24:18,401 This data dump has become known as the Panama Papers. 893 01:24:19,271 --> 01:24:21,578 Inside the Panama Papers, Assen and his team 894 01:24:21,621 --> 01:24:23,971 of investigators found irrefutable evidence 895 01:24:24,015 --> 01:24:25,843 of Peevski being used to siphon money 896 01:24:25,886 --> 01:24:29,020 from the EU via Bulgaria, ultimately moving it 897 01:24:29,064 --> 01:24:31,109 to offshore accounts, connecting back 898 01:24:31,153 --> 01:24:33,677 to the ghost-like Soviet KGB network. 899 01:24:35,026 --> 01:24:38,290 But what do you do with this evidence, who do you give it to? 900 01:24:38,334 --> 01:24:40,771 Anonymous sources investigating global fraud 901 01:24:40,814 --> 01:24:43,556 and money laundering rumor that when the money trail leads 902 01:24:43,600 --> 01:24:46,994 to Bulgaria, they simply give up, it's a waste of time. 903 01:25:06,623 --> 01:25:09,974 [Kevin] The Panama Papers also aided the American investigation, 904 01:25:10,017 --> 01:25:14,587 linking VTB's interest in the Vivicom Group Telecommunications Company 905 01:25:14,631 --> 01:25:18,156 with access into all cellphones and Internet traffic. 906 01:25:18,200 --> 01:25:20,680 This also gave them control over the radio frequencies 907 01:25:20,724 --> 01:25:23,161 and telecommunications for military, 908 01:25:23,205 --> 01:25:27,165 diplomatic, civil, and commercial aircraft and satellites, 909 01:25:27,209 --> 01:25:30,603 all supposedly operating inside a NATO state. 910 01:25:30,647 --> 01:25:35,434 Russia also gained back control over 850 radio frequency broadcasting towers, 911 01:25:35,478 --> 01:25:37,480 and the Plana satellite station covering most 912 01:25:37,523 --> 01:25:40,787 of Africa it had lost at the fall of communism. 913 01:25:56,194 --> 01:26:00,111 The time I spent with Jordan caused me to share in his pain and contempt 914 01:26:00,155 --> 01:26:03,288 for the corrupt government threatening the future of his children, 915 01:26:03,332 --> 01:26:06,030 but Jordan wasn't the kind of guy to give up without a fight, 916 01:26:06,073 --> 01:26:08,075 and I respected the fact that he wasn't afraid 917 01:26:08,119 --> 01:26:11,644 to go up against the gangsters holding his country hostage. 918 01:26:32,752 --> 01:26:36,016 [Kevin] Later that day, he brought us to the steps of the chief prosecutor's office 919 01:26:36,060 --> 01:26:40,586 to meet the leader of the protest network, an attorney named Nikolay Stoykov, 920 01:26:40,630 --> 01:26:45,983 who had also dedicated his life to dismantling the old Soviet style trade network. 921 01:27:18,494 --> 01:27:21,192 [Kevin] The over 2.3 billion euro loss 922 01:27:21,236 --> 01:27:24,151 in the CCB crash wasn't only corporations. 923 01:27:24,195 --> 01:27:26,980 There were nearly 8,000 private Bulgarian citizens 924 01:27:27,024 --> 01:27:29,635 whose life savings also vanished. 925 01:27:29,679 --> 01:27:31,855 With no one to turn to, thousands of citizens took 926 01:27:31,898 --> 01:27:36,381 to the streets, one slogan, "who is the other fat man", 927 01:27:36,425 --> 01:27:39,210 showed the chief prosecutor inside Peevski's shadow. 928 01:27:39,254 --> 01:27:41,908 [crowd chants] 929 01:27:42,561 --> 01:27:44,737 Later that day, yet another report came out, 930 01:27:44,781 --> 01:27:47,523 citing Bulgaria as the most corrupt country in Europe. 931 01:27:48,524 --> 01:27:50,482 I came here with the intention of shedding light 932 01:27:50,526 --> 01:27:53,572 on the Russian meddling going on back in the States, 933 01:27:53,616 --> 01:27:55,966 but the frustration of these people's situation 934 01:27:56,009 --> 01:27:58,142 was really starting to get me depressed. 935 01:27:58,185 --> 01:28:00,623 [somber music] 936 01:28:16,029 --> 01:28:19,816 -[Taylor] Oh my god, this is so fun. -[Kevin] Hey, Toni. 937 01:28:19,859 --> 01:28:23,080 [Taylor] This is awesome, are you on your new computer? 938 01:28:24,081 --> 01:28:25,300 [Kevin] I look gross. 939 01:28:25,343 --> 01:28:27,084 [Taylor] Oh, no. 940 01:28:27,127 --> 01:28:30,348 Oh, this is the first Skype ever. 941 01:28:30,392 --> 01:28:31,784 [Kevin] At dinner, the young Roma girl, 942 01:28:31,828 --> 01:28:34,265 Toni, Skyped us, I was so excited, 943 01:28:34,309 --> 01:28:37,355 until I learned that she was calling from a pawn shop to say 944 01:28:37,399 --> 01:28:39,009 that her parents were selling her computer 945 01:28:39,052 --> 01:28:40,663 to buy tickets for a carnival. 946 01:28:43,056 --> 01:28:45,363 The next day, we headed back to the Roma village, 947 01:28:45,407 --> 01:28:48,279 with the intention of getting Toni's computer out of hock. 948 01:29:19,615 --> 01:29:20,485 [Kevin] I'm sorry. 949 01:29:47,251 --> 01:29:50,385 That's very sweet, that's very sweet. 950 01:29:51,734 --> 01:29:54,084 [Kevin] Doing anything in Bulgaria requires permission 951 01:29:54,127 --> 01:29:57,130 from one of the many ministries left behind by the Soviet Union. 952 01:30:05,225 --> 01:30:06,444 Okay. 953 01:30:06,488 --> 01:30:08,968 [somber music] 954 01:30:10,274 --> 01:30:12,668 [Kevin] Back when we gave Toni a laptop computer, 955 01:30:12,711 --> 01:30:15,453 she promised us that she would stay in school. 956 01:30:15,497 --> 01:30:18,238 But the reality of their lives often puts simple things, 957 01:30:18,282 --> 01:30:20,502 like finding food, ahead of an education. 958 01:30:23,679 --> 01:30:26,508 [Kevin] We had been trying to get Toni to learn just a little basic English, 959 01:30:26,551 --> 01:30:29,032 in hopes that one day she could visit America. 960 01:30:30,729 --> 01:30:32,905 With several failed attempts at hiring tutors 961 01:30:32,949 --> 01:30:35,125 and private teachers, it was frustrating 962 01:30:35,168 --> 01:30:37,954 to learn that there was an English class in Toni's school, 963 01:30:37,997 --> 01:30:39,042 but she wasn't in it. 964 01:30:39,085 --> 01:30:40,826 What about: 965 01:30:40,870 --> 01:30:44,482 ♪ Happy birthday to you 966 01:30:44,526 --> 01:30:46,266 All right, it's your birthday? 967 01:30:46,310 --> 01:30:50,314 ♪ Happy birthday to you 968 01:30:50,357 --> 01:30:52,577 ♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells 969 01:30:52,621 --> 01:30:54,797 ♪ Jingle all the way 970 01:30:54,840 --> 01:30:58,235 We've been trying to help this one girl here, 971 01:30:58,278 --> 01:31:00,846 Toni, who we've been following for a while, and, 972 01:31:03,240 --> 01:31:05,547 you know, we started off trying to teach her English, 973 01:31:05,590 --> 01:31:08,419 -and to be honest with you, it just hasn't gone so well. -Okay. 974 01:31:08,463 --> 01:31:12,641 And it's disappointing to me to come here and see that she's not even in her class. 975 01:31:12,684 --> 01:31:16,079 Is it too late to get Toni into this class? What should we do? 976 01:31:17,602 --> 01:31:20,039 So what made you want to be in a Roma school? 977 01:31:24,740 --> 01:31:26,045 [audience applauds] 978 01:31:29,484 --> 01:31:32,443 [Kevin] It's said that the only future occupation guaranteed 979 01:31:32,487 --> 01:31:36,055 to the young Roma children is that of pimp or prostitute. 980 01:31:36,099 --> 01:31:39,494 [audience applauds and whistles] 981 01:31:44,237 --> 01:31:47,545 [Kevin] So in hopes of inspiring a few kids to stay in school, 982 01:31:47,589 --> 01:31:50,417 Jordan was able to contact a young Roma man 983 01:31:50,461 --> 01:31:52,550 who also grew up in a poor village, 984 01:31:52,594 --> 01:31:55,118 but was now a renowned medical doctor. 985 01:31:55,858 --> 01:31:58,948 [audience applauds] 986 01:32:17,706 --> 01:32:19,969 [Kevin] Toshko told us that if he couldn't find work, 987 01:32:20,012 --> 01:32:22,624 his wife would have to become a prostitute, 988 01:32:22,667 --> 01:32:25,322 and Toni could possibly follow right behind. 989 01:33:32,737 --> 01:33:35,218 [dogs snarl] 990 01:33:46,055 --> 01:33:48,535 [somber music] 991 01:33:54,280 --> 01:33:56,369 [Kevin] Toshko said he wanted to open a coffee shop 992 01:33:56,413 --> 01:33:59,982 in the village, hoping to keep Toni out of the brides mart, 993 01:34:00,025 --> 01:34:01,592 we made a small donation. 994 01:34:06,989 --> 01:34:10,383 [slow solemn music] 995 01:34:32,144 --> 01:34:37,193 [fireworks pop] 996 01:34:42,764 --> 01:34:46,681 [slow electronic music] 997 01:34:57,648 --> 01:34:59,345 [Kevin] Hoping to see the big picture of how 998 01:34:59,389 --> 01:35:02,131 post Cold War Russia exerts its control over 999 01:35:02,174 --> 01:35:05,743 other countries, I contacted an associate, Robert Steel, 1000 01:35:05,787 --> 01:35:09,225 who had been a longtime intelligence officer for the CIA. 1001 01:35:09,268 --> 01:35:12,315 After several trials and tribulations, he was able 1002 01:35:12,358 --> 01:35:14,970 to get us a brief meeting with a former KGB agent 1003 01:35:15,013 --> 01:35:18,451 and four star Russian general, Oleg Kalugin. 1004 01:35:42,345 --> 01:35:46,218 [Kevin] What did you mean when you said that Bulgarians were the most kindred 1005 01:35:46,262 --> 01:35:47,611 to the Russian mindset? 1006 01:35:59,841 --> 01:36:02,147 [somber music] 1007 01:36:09,241 --> 01:36:11,940 [Kevin] The Bulgarians had everything they needed to rid their country 1008 01:36:11,983 --> 01:36:16,118 of the criminals, but the problem was that the top protest leaders stopped communicating 1009 01:36:16,161 --> 01:36:21,210 with each other after the fallout from the massive 2014 protests. 1010 01:36:21,253 --> 01:36:24,213 I needed a way to somehow get them all back together, 1011 01:36:24,256 --> 01:36:27,477 just one more time, and perhaps spark a protest 1012 01:36:27,520 --> 01:36:28,870 that couldn't be stopped. 1013 01:36:30,959 --> 01:36:36,138 Back in 2012, an all-girl punk band called Pussy Riot staged a protest 1014 01:36:36,181 --> 01:36:38,270 against Putin by performing on the alter 1015 01:36:38,314 --> 01:36:40,707 of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. 1016 01:36:41,447 --> 01:36:44,146 The lead singer, Nadya, and her collaborators were sentenced 1017 01:36:44,189 --> 01:36:47,802 to two years of hard labor at a Siberian prison camp. 1018 01:36:47,845 --> 01:36:52,850 However, the silver lining to the story was the massive global fame that came to them, 1019 01:36:52,894 --> 01:36:54,678 and a kind of title of being some 1020 01:36:54,721 --> 01:36:56,941 of the greatest protestors of all time. 1021 01:36:58,116 --> 01:37:00,597 [somber music] 1022 01:37:20,617 --> 01:37:23,620 [Kevin] Did you hear about the girl band, Pussy Riot, 1023 01:37:23,663 --> 01:37:25,230 that staged that protest, and all that? 1024 01:37:33,935 --> 01:37:36,894 [Kevin] But was it the church that pressured Putin 1025 01:37:36,938 --> 01:37:39,288 into locking them up for two years? 1026 01:37:52,214 --> 01:37:54,259 [Kevin] But they spent-- but Nadya 1027 01:37:54,303 --> 01:37:56,827 and the other girls spent two years in prison. 1028 01:38:03,007 --> 01:38:05,270 [Kevin] Wandering around inside the Russian embassy, 1029 01:38:05,314 --> 01:38:08,665 I felt like a kid in some sort of evil candy store. 1030 01:38:08,708 --> 01:38:14,018 -I didn't want to leave, but being here gave me an idea.-[laughter] 1031 01:38:14,062 --> 01:38:17,195 -[Taylor] Really cool. Oh, yeah. -[woman] I'd love to have a party here. 1032 01:38:17,892 --> 01:38:21,330 [Kevin] The two main protest leaders who represented completely different factions 1033 01:38:21,373 --> 01:38:24,594 had a huge falling out after the 2014 protests, 1034 01:38:24,637 --> 01:38:27,466 and swore they would never work together again. 1035 01:38:27,510 --> 01:38:30,687 However, if we wanted to trigger a truly huge protest, 1036 01:38:30,730 --> 01:38:35,170 it was imperative they bury their Bulgarian hatchet and join forces again. 1037 01:38:35,213 --> 01:38:38,303 My plan was simple, invite each one of them separately 1038 01:38:38,347 --> 01:38:40,349 to meet with the members of Pussy Riot, 1039 01:38:40,392 --> 01:38:42,873 while excluding the fact the other would be there. 1040 01:38:42,917 --> 01:38:46,094 With Pussy Riot as the bait, how could it fail? 1041 01:38:48,270 --> 01:38:51,838 [singing] 1042 01:38:51,882 --> 01:38:54,624 [Kevin] Pussy Riot's trademark move was concealing their identities 1043 01:38:54,667 --> 01:38:58,628 by wearing brightly colored ski masks called balaclavas. 1044 01:38:58,671 --> 01:39:01,718 We met with a protestor that recently had been arrested 1045 01:39:01,761 --> 01:39:05,417 for mimicking Pussy Riot by painting the heads of the Soviet war monuments. 1046 01:39:18,648 --> 01:39:20,780 [Kevin] We were able to contact Pyotr Verzilov, 1047 01:39:20,824 --> 01:39:23,000 the lead singer's husband and group's manager, 1048 01:39:23,044 --> 01:39:25,089 who agreed to come to Sofia with Nadya 1049 01:39:25,133 --> 01:39:27,222 and one of the other members of the band. 1050 01:39:36,274 --> 01:39:38,885 [Kevin] With Pussy Riot en route, we went to see some of the monuments 1051 01:39:38,929 --> 01:39:40,931 that were pissing everybody off. 1052 01:39:56,207 --> 01:39:58,818 [Kevin] Seeing these Soviet war monuments still standing 1053 01:39:58,862 --> 01:40:02,039 in the sovereign nation of Bulgaria reminded me of the controversy 1054 01:40:02,083 --> 01:40:05,912 back home over the Confederate statues from the American Civil War. 1055 01:40:06,435 --> 01:40:10,047 This gave me an idea. What if we leaked a rumor to the media 1056 01:40:10,091 --> 01:40:12,702 that Pussy Riot was gonna stage a trademark action 1057 01:40:12,745 --> 01:40:14,704 at the Soviet war monument? 1058 01:40:14,747 --> 01:40:16,880 Hopefully it would cause a tidal wave of attention, 1059 01:40:16,923 --> 01:40:19,100 thereby reuniting the protestors, 1060 01:40:19,143 --> 01:40:22,059 and perhaps injecting them with Pussy Riot's punk spirit. 1061 01:40:23,147 --> 01:40:26,237 There was just one problem, the statues' heads 1062 01:40:26,281 --> 01:40:28,587 were way too big for store-bought balaclavas. 1063 01:40:31,329 --> 01:40:35,420 With Pussy Riot arriving in a matter of hours, we found the only open store in Sofia 1064 01:40:35,464 --> 01:40:40,599 that had colored material, and stayed up all night cutting holes in 20 new dresses. 1065 01:40:41,513 --> 01:40:44,777 [slow electronic music] 1066 01:40:48,607 --> 01:40:51,045 [humming] 1067 01:40:51,088 --> 01:40:53,482 [Kevin] Before the Russian punk rockers arrived, 1068 01:40:53,525 --> 01:40:55,527 I felt it was my patriotic duty 1069 01:40:55,571 --> 01:40:58,748 to teach the Bulgarians the correct history of punk rock. 1070 01:41:02,665 --> 01:41:03,535 [Kevin] You want some action? 1071 01:42:11,386 --> 01:42:13,605 [slow electronic music] 1072 01:42:39,979 --> 01:42:43,853 [sirens blaring] 1073 01:42:47,726 --> 01:42:50,207 [indistinct chatter] 1074 01:42:57,214 --> 01:42:59,956 [Kevin] No questions about the pig. 1075 01:43:01,262 --> 01:43:03,264 [laughter] 1076 01:43:48,047 --> 01:43:50,659 [Kevin] The next day, our plan fell into full effect 1077 01:43:50,702 --> 01:43:52,617 when the two rivaling leaders sat together 1078 01:43:52,661 --> 01:43:55,794 and broke bread. If this didn't spark a protest, 1079 01:43:55,838 --> 01:43:58,014 I was fresh out of ideas. 1080 01:44:26,912 --> 01:44:29,567 [Kevin] Getting the media's attention sealed the deal, 1081 01:44:29,611 --> 01:44:32,048 and a new plan was hatched to surround Parliament 1082 01:44:32,091 --> 01:44:33,397 during their next session. 1083 01:44:46,323 --> 01:44:49,326 [Kevin] With the protestors surrounding the parliament building, pressure inside 1084 01:44:49,370 --> 01:44:53,025 to expose the former Soviet network came to a boil. 1085 01:44:53,069 --> 01:44:55,637 That was until Peevski made a surprise appearance, 1086 01:44:55,680 --> 01:44:58,204 reminding everyone who they really worked for. 1087 01:45:10,739 --> 01:45:11,957 [applause] 1088 01:45:12,001 --> 01:45:15,744 [overlapping chattering] 1089 01:45:18,790 --> 01:45:21,227 [Kevin] In a last ditch effort at damage control, 1090 01:45:21,271 --> 01:45:23,578 Boyko called an emergency press conference. 1091 01:45:37,287 --> 01:45:39,289 [Kevin] Numerous attempts at interviewing Peevski, 1092 01:45:39,333 --> 01:45:43,119 Boyko, and the American embassy went totally ignored. 1093 01:45:43,162 --> 01:45:44,555 But with many of the key players 1094 01:45:44,599 --> 01:45:46,165 inside the parliament building, 1095 01:45:46,209 --> 01:45:47,863 the thousands of bank crash victims 1096 01:45:47,906 --> 01:45:50,039 and other law abiding citizens were going 1097 01:45:50,082 --> 01:45:53,347 to force them to listen, one way or the other. 1098 01:45:53,390 --> 01:45:56,088 [people chanting and whistling] 1099 01:46:14,324 --> 01:46:17,849 [protestors chanting] 1100 01:47:22,566 --> 01:47:27,353 [Kevin] When I first met Jordan, he was already an activist, but I'd like to think 1101 01:47:27,397 --> 01:47:30,444 that a little of my American rebel spirit wore off on him. 1102 01:47:52,988 --> 01:47:55,164 [Kevin] In the summer of 2017, 1103 01:47:55,207 --> 01:47:58,210 Tzvetan's daughter, was arrested at the Belgrade airport. 1104 01:47:58,254 --> 01:47:59,821 However, it was quickly discovered that 1105 01:47:59,864 --> 01:48:01,953 Bulgarian officials had manipulated 1106 01:48:01,997 --> 01:48:04,216 the Interpol system for political revenge. 1107 01:48:29,067 --> 01:48:31,983 [Kevin] Back in 2009, a Russian accountant 1108 01:48:32,027 --> 01:48:36,205 and lawyer named Sergei Magnitsky was tortured to death in prison, after uncovering 1109 01:48:36,248 --> 01:48:40,383 a 230 million dollar tax fraud directly linked to Putin. 1110 01:48:40,426 --> 01:48:44,213 Putin is the richest man in the world, I would estimate he's worth 200 billion dollars, 1111 01:48:44,256 --> 01:48:48,347 and much of that money is held by nominees offshore, 1112 01:48:48,391 --> 01:48:51,263 and that money will eventually be frozen, under the Magnitsky Act, 1113 01:48:51,307 --> 01:48:54,266 if he ever loses his power as President of Russia. 1114 01:48:54,310 --> 01:48:56,486 [Kevin] In 2016, Congress enacted 1115 01:48:56,530 --> 01:48:59,097 the global Magnitsky Act, allowing the US government 1116 01:48:59,141 --> 01:49:03,275 to sanction foreign officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere 1117 01:49:03,319 --> 01:49:05,582 in the world, including Russia. 1118 01:49:05,626 --> 01:49:09,107 They, there were two effectively agents 1119 01:49:09,151 --> 01:49:11,370 of the Russian government who went to Donald Trump Jr., 1120 01:49:11,414 --> 01:49:15,592 and said, "Can you help us withdraw this act 1121 01:49:15,636 --> 01:49:17,463 if your father gets elected president?" 1122 01:49:22,164 --> 01:49:25,733 [Kevin] In November of 2017, Tzvetan Vassilev hired 1123 01:49:25,776 --> 01:49:28,779 an American law firm in hopes of placing criminal sanctions 1124 01:49:28,823 --> 01:49:32,130 against Peevski through the U.S. Magnitsky Act. 1125 01:49:34,393 --> 01:49:37,353 [piano music] 1126 01:49:52,716 --> 01:49:55,327 [Kevin] Placing officials like Peevski into key positions 1127 01:49:55,371 --> 01:49:58,243 is something that all Mafia's and governments engage in. 1128 01:49:58,287 --> 01:50:02,639 But what I discovered is that Bulgaria is a small copy of Russia 1129 01:50:02,683 --> 01:50:08,123 with the same wild privatization benefiting the communist and KGB industrial complex, 1130 01:50:08,819 --> 01:50:14,782 a type of genesis of oligarchs formed from a carbon copy of old Communist Party appointees, 1131 01:50:14,825 --> 01:50:18,655 fully in control of the Judicial system, election outcomes, 1132 01:50:18,699 --> 01:50:20,918 and most importantly money & power. 1133 01:50:32,408 --> 01:50:36,630 [Kevin] The investigation triggered by Dallas-based Ayr Logistics' bankruptcy 1134 01:50:36,673 --> 01:50:38,762 unleashed a lawsuit against Peevski, 1135 01:50:38,806 --> 01:50:41,591 accusing the young oligarch and the Russian VTB Bank 1136 01:50:41,635 --> 01:50:43,811 of using American money to keep control 1137 01:50:43,854 --> 01:50:45,987 over Bulgartabac and Vivacom. 1138 01:51:02,003 --> 01:51:05,484 [indistinct chattering] 1139 01:51:13,928 --> 01:51:16,974 [Kevin] Many Americans forget that over 20 million Russians died 1140 01:51:17,018 --> 01:51:19,411 in order to defeat the Nazi's, 1141 01:51:19,455 --> 01:51:23,154 and when the Soviet Union fell, it put a permanent scar on Russia. 1142 01:51:23,894 --> 01:51:25,635 So it shouldn't be shocking to the West 1143 01:51:25,679 --> 01:51:28,029 that Putin success will ultimately be measured 1144 01:51:28,072 --> 01:51:30,596 by his restoration of the great empire. 1145 01:51:32,033 --> 01:51:35,514 The Cold War may have ended, but the war on basic freedom, 1146 01:51:35,558 --> 01:51:38,604 democracy, and rights continues. 1147 01:52:14,423 --> 01:52:20,211 [Kevin] Before heading back to America, we had one last stop. We had given our Roma friend, 1148 01:52:20,255 --> 01:52:25,129 Toshko, a little financial help to build the first of its kind gypsy coffee shop. 1149 01:52:26,043 --> 01:52:29,655 A few members of the crew wagered me that the gypsies probably used the money 1150 01:52:29,699 --> 01:52:33,268 for something else, but I had to have faith. 1151 01:52:33,834 --> 01:52:37,838 Obviously many of the richest people in Bulgaria were not honest, but I was hoping 1152 01:52:37,881 --> 01:52:41,319 that maybe, just maybe, some of the poorest were. 1153 01:53:04,429 --> 01:53:06,823 -[Taylor] Yeah. -What if, like, it was just an amazing coffee shop, 1154 01:53:06,867 --> 01:53:09,565 we pull up, and we were like, all just like, damn, you did it. 1155 01:53:09,608 --> 01:53:13,395 -[Taylor] We'll eat our words. -Like, huge beautiful sign, big entrance. 1156 01:53:14,048 --> 01:53:16,050 -Is that crazy? -Toshko. 1157 01:53:16,093 --> 01:53:17,268 [Taylor] Is this the coffee shop? 1158 01:53:17,312 --> 01:53:18,966 [Kevin] Is that Toshko, what? 1159 01:53:19,009 --> 01:53:21,664 -[Taylor] Oh, my God. -[Kevin] What? 1160 01:53:21,707 --> 01:53:23,709 -[Taylor] Wait, no. -[Kevin] That's not it. 1161 01:53:23,753 --> 01:53:25,059 -[Taylor] That can't-- -[Paul] It looks like a coffee shop. 1162 01:53:25,102 --> 01:53:27,322 [Kevin] Are they staging this for us? 1163 01:53:27,365 --> 01:53:28,366 [overlapping chattering] 1164 01:53:28,410 --> 01:53:31,282 -Yeah. -[Taylor laughs] 1165 01:53:31,848 --> 01:53:33,676 [Kevin laughs] 1166 01:53:35,112 --> 01:53:37,854 [Taylor] This could be an elaborate theatrical performance. 1167 01:53:41,249 --> 01:53:42,206 [Kevin] Yeah, check it out. 1168 01:53:52,695 --> 01:53:54,479 -Crew cheering] -[Taylor] Wow. 1169 01:54:02,705 --> 01:54:05,795 [Taylor] Hi, how are you, I love that baby. 1170 01:54:09,799 --> 01:54:11,583 This is amazing. 1171 01:54:11,627 --> 01:54:14,108 This is great, I'm totally impressed. 1172 01:54:22,594 --> 01:54:23,857 So how's business? 1173 01:54:28,774 --> 01:54:30,646 [Kevin] This place is making millions, come on. 1174 01:54:31,168 --> 01:54:33,736 [laughter] 1175 01:54:57,542 --> 01:55:01,416 So you just feeding electricity to some other building, or taking it from another building? 1176 01:55:02,721 --> 01:55:03,897 That's awesome. 1177 01:55:27,398 --> 01:55:28,356 [Paul] Perfect. 1178 01:55:33,927 --> 01:55:35,145 Bye. 1179 01:55:37,452 --> 01:55:42,457 [Taylor] Milla, can you help with the door? Milla, can you help with the big door? 1180 01:55:42,500 --> 01:55:44,850 -Yeah. -[Taylor] Thanks, girl. 1181 01:55:47,331 --> 01:55:51,205 [Kevin] I came to this tiny country with the expectation of finding a total breakdown 1182 01:55:51,248 --> 01:55:55,252 in society, but with all the hatred and discourse going 1183 01:55:55,296 --> 01:55:58,908 on back in the States, I realize that whatever it was 1184 01:55:58,952 --> 01:56:01,693 that Bulgaria had been through had also created 1185 01:56:01,737 --> 01:56:03,739 a lasting sense of unity and values 1186 01:56:03,782 --> 01:56:06,263 that seemed to circumvent politics and money. 1187 01:56:07,830 --> 01:56:09,919 I found a famous Bulgarian quote. 1188 01:56:09,963 --> 01:56:13,227 Translated, it says, "The best time to plant a tree 1189 01:56:13,270 --> 01:56:17,796 was 20 years ago, the second best time is now." 1190 01:56:17,840 --> 01:56:21,191 [melancholic music] 1191 01:57:26,387 --> 01:57:29,520 [upbeat dance music]