[slow orchestral music]
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[ominous orchestral music]
[Kevin] Growing up in Texas, I was taught to hate communism,
and mistrust anything to do with Russia,
a shadowy empire operating from behind an Iron Curtain,
hellbent on destroying the American way of life.
When communism fell, we were all supposed to be relieved.
But the paranoia was so ingrained,
-it never truly faded. -[somber music]
Today, America has the world on edge,
with almost 1,000 military bases in every corner of the planet.
But a new type of Cold War has begun,
a war of social media spin and fake news,
causing a climate of political chaos,
making American citizens turn against one another.
My idea was simple, find a country undoubtedly manipulated
by Russia, and search for answers,
in hopes that it could shed light
on the current crisis in the States.
[somber music]
[Kevin] Finally leaving for Bulgaria tomorrow.
My biggest fear, you wanna know my biggest fear is?
-Nothing's gonna happen. -That nothing happens, that's my biggest fear.
My biggest fear is I go there, and everybody's just like, what, life here is great,
-look at it, the weather's great, the food is great. -It's not gonna be like that--
-Everything's great. -It's not.
[Kevin] Here we go.
[dog barks]
[somber music]
[Kevin] While flying overseas, I logged onto the CIA's official YouTube channel,
and discovered a few fascinating videos, produced right before the fall of communism.
[narrator] In recognizing a communist,
physical appearance counts for nothing.
If he openly declares himself to be a communist,
we take his word for it.
[slow orchestral music]
If a person consistently reads,
and advocates the views expressed
in a communist publication, he may be a communist.
If a person supports organizations
which reflect communist teachings,
or organizations labeled communist
by the Department of Justice, she may be a communist.
If a person defends the activities
of communist nations while consistently attacking
the domestic and foreign policy of the United States,
she may be a communist.
If a person does all these things over a period of time, he must be a communist.
But there are other communists who don't show their real faces, who work more silently.
[Kevin] Bulgaria, a tiny country located
on the border of Turkey and Greece,
known for having the world's strongest bacteria,
used for making yogurt.
But regardless of the exceptional bacteria,
Bulgaria had also gained the unfortunate reputation
for having the worst corruption in the entire European Union, and many believe this was due
to the Russian communists, implanting a shadow government,
right before the collapse of the Soviet Union
in the early '90s.
My mission, gain the trust of several insiders,
and attempt to document how Russia manipulates elections,
banking, media, and the judicial system.
[somber music]
[inaudible conversation over phone]
[Kevin] Day one with my new team. There was Milla,
a native born, proud, patriotic Bulgarian, helping with logistics.
Taylor, a young filmmaker who had traveled
with me from Los Angeles, and was the only other American
on the team, my longtime friend, Paul Thomas,
from London, who had been producing documentaries
for many years, Jordan, a Bulgarian auditor by trade,
an activist fighting to end corruption.
[Kevin] Evgeny, a seasoned Bulgarian cameraman
with a magic eye, and then there's Pavel,
the Bulgarian filmmaker, and the joker of the bunch.
-Taylor's here. -That's me. -Yeah, that's Taylor,
that's me, that's Milla, that's the driver, and that's Taylor.
-Ah, you're in front seat. -Yeah. -Yeah.
[Kevin] We needed an inside man,
someone not corrupted by the mafia.
Jordan gave us the contact information
of an independent journalist named Assen Yordanov,
who ran the Bulgarian equivalent of Wikileaks, called Bivol.
[Kevin] Okay.
-[Kevin] Batteries, computer cables, remote controls. -[Taylor] Yeah.
[Kevin] Even though we had not heard back from the journalist, we hit the road,
in hopes of getting our investigation started.
[Kevin] My first impression of driving through the country reminded me
of the 1984 Patrick Swayze movie,Red Dawn,
in which small-town America becomes occupied
by Russian forces and Russian culture.
[Kevin] Here in the once occupied country, you could easily see the seams
between the ancient European architecture
and the crappy cement and steel buildings,
left behind by the Soviet Union.
It was easy to tell that this place must have looked
totally different before the 45 years of Russian occupation.
[Kevin] After driving for several hours, we stopped for gas, where I learned
that Russia supplies almost all the fuel
for the European Union through Gazprom and Lukoil.
In a recent Internet data dump, known as the Paradise Papers, it was discovered
that back in 2011, Gazprom,
working through the Russian state bank, VTB,
purchased a 5% stake in Twitter,
and invested a billion dollars in Facebook.
We were finally able to track down the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Assen Yordanov,
who told me that he lived in constant fear,
due to several of his investigations creating damage
to the shadowy figures pulling the strings
from behind a new type of Iron Curtain.
[Kevin] In the Black Sea port of Burgas,
Assen showed us a huge oil refinery owned by Russia.
That's crazy.
[ominous orchestral music]
[background noise drowns out speaker]
[slow orchestral music]
[knocking]
It's pretty crazy.
It's fucked up.
[Kevin] Assen drove us down the Black Sea peninsula,
a highly valuable parcel of land somehow owned
by Russia inside the country of Bulgaria.
[Kevin] With the situation in Syria, the bond between Russia and Turkey has become
a big concern in the West, so when Assen told me
that the heads of the Bulgarian Turkish party own the land
that Bulgaria illegally gave to Russia, I made note
of these two shadowy figures, named Dogan and Peevski.
[ominous music]
[slow electronic music]
[Kevin] Still in the coastal region, Assen suggested we visit a different type
of Russian stronghold, a tourist destination called Sunny Beach, said by many
to be the Cancun of Russia and Eastern Europe.
People came for the prostitutes, drugs,
and cheap counterfeit Russian liquor.
[Kevin] It's rumored that the Sunny Beach policeman's main job is
to make sure tourists don't die from the over-consumption
of discount drugs, alcohol, or the sex.
Ken and I are going fucking crazy, man, woo!
-[pole rattles] -[commotion]
[singing]
[Kevin] Why are you here to party?
[overlapping chattering]
-Do it, do it. -All right, all right.
[Kevin] It's what, bad alcohol?
[overlapping chattering]
Ugh, it's horrible.
No, man, all right, over here.
[Kevin] The next day, I awoke to a kind of rubbing alcohol,
radiator fluid taste in my mouth.
The booze may have been counterfeit,
but my headache was 100% authentic.
[upbeat big band music]
During the Soviet occupation, Sunny Beach was considered a five star exclusive resort,
a dream destination for only the wealthiest Russians and Bulgarians.
[narrator] Bulgaria was built for the carefree holiday.
[Kevin] But when communism fell, the Russian backed mafia gobbled up all the real estate
on the coast, using un-legislated privatization deals.
I wanted to learn more about the significance
of the Russian mafia controlling the coast,
so we met back up with Assen.
But tell me in English why Americans should care
about what's going on here.
[slow electronic music]
[overlapping chattering]
[Kevin] Starting to feel a little like Chevy Chase,
making Eastern European vacation,
I was having too much fun, but it was time
to get the team, including myself,
into a more disciplined mode.
Assen's comment about Russia being a Trojan horse
inside the EU made me realize I needed to learn more
about how Russia gained its control
over this once sovereign nation.
And as with most stories about 20th century history,
I discovered that Hitler played a major factor.
But I needed to learn more about this country's strange history of becoming one
of the Soviet satellite states at the end of World War II.
Much like Putin got his start by being a KGB agent,
the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov,
got his by being a bodyguard to the communist dictator,
Todor Zhivkov, who ruled for over three decades,
until the fall of the Soviet empire.
But previous to the Russian occupation
was a German aristocrat named Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
The next day, we met up with one of the largest landowners
in Bulgaria, now symbolically titled the Tsar.
[Kevin] During the peak of the war,
Simeon's father, King Boris III,
was visited by Hitler, who ordered him
to turn over the 60,000 Jews living in Bulgaria,
so far spared from the Nazi death camps.
When the King refused, Hitler had him poisoned.
As a result of his father's murder, Simeon became the new King
of Bulgaria at the age of six years old.
At the end of World War II, Russia didn't waste any time
in securing the geographically significant country,
before it could fall into the hands of the Allies.
What's a memory you have of communism coming?
What was, what was, what was the change?
[Kevin] Okay, so when you say all the people around me were executed, who, who?
All around, you mean, like, your cabinet, like, your political--
[Kevin] And why were you spared? I mean, then, so you were spared because you were--
Some of the people I've talked to, maybe you might consider this a conspiracy theory,
I'm not sure, that have told me that
when Russia left, like, through the KGB and,
or other organizations, left a lot of kind of a mafia
in Bulgaria that went onto infiltrate the government.
Of course I would.
[somber music]
[Kevin] After the interview, Jordan was able to get a few minutes with a former king
to express the frustrations he lives with every day.
[somber music]
[Kevin] Oh, poochie, look at this dog.
[Kevin] I came here in search of the big red boogieman.
So when the Tsar openly admitted
that the KGB had rightfully left people
and systems behind after the collapse,
it made me realize that it was time
for me to get beyond my Western thinking.
[somber music]
Perhaps understanding the virtues
of old communism could help me grasp
the current political climate back in the States.
So the team suggested that I talk
to an old architect, made famous
for his massive Soviet monuments.
[Kevin] Everywhere you look, you see endless rows of old Russian style
tenement buildings, they litter the landscape.
This place must have been gorgeous before they built all these places,
but all aesthetics aside, there are people living in these buildings,
so tearing them down would never be an option.
We stopped by the Buzludzha monument
that Georgi Stoilov had designed.
It was a like a giant Russian flying saucer out
of an '80s style future, now abandoned and sealed off.
[choir singing]
[birds chirp]
[Taylor] Okay. Watch your head, Milla, there are harsh sticks.
There are really dangerous sticks above.
-[Kevin whistles] -[overlapping chattering]
So this maybe has something to do with, like, the space race a little bit, maybe?
[somber music]
[Kevin] It's notable that the first human
in space was Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin.
Assen introduced me to an investigator named Zahari Tomaf,
who was hired by an American company
to track down stolen funds.
Zahari declined an on-camera interview,
but told me that Russia often uses the names
of fallen heroes for companies and entities,
left in place for back channel purposes.
In this case, a Bulgarian tobacco company,
named Yurii Gagarin, after the astronaut,
was reportedly linked to the Russian VTB Bank.
Founded in 1963 by Russia, Yuri Gagarin was just one
of an endless array of corporate entities
and offshore accounts left in place by the Soviets.
But in order for all this to run smoothly,
the proper people must stay in power.
[reporter] Bulgaria is struggling to supply water
and electricity to its 6.8 million citizens,
with a voter turnout expected at 50%,
and allegations of fraud, it looks unlikely
that elections will solve Bulgaria's economic woes.
[Kevin] Seemingly unbeatable, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov
is a controversial front man for the former Soviet satellite
and current NATO member, Bulgaria.
Foremost, I want to thank the Prime Minister
for the strong partnership in NATO.
[Kevin] Assen suggested that we go to a small town called Stara Zagora,
where Boyko's government was actively bulldozing the homes of the poor and starving
Roma people, who ironically voted for him, for as little as a sandwich.
We met with the young progressive mayor, Zhivko Todorov.
I mean, are people using the Roma people as a way
to, like, stack votes on a certain party?
[slow folksy music]
[Kevin] Growing up in America, the word gypsy spark images
of mysticism, nomadic fortunetellers.
♪ Gypsies, tramps, and thieves
♪ We'd hear it from the people of the town, they call us ♪
[Kevin] Across Eastern Europe, there are over 10 million Roma people who,
during communism, were forced to plant roots.
Ironically, communism was the best thing
to ever happen to most of these nomads,
because it gave them food, shelter, and jobs.
But when communism fell in 1989,
most of these once nomadic people found themselves stuck
in a no-win situation.
On the outskirts of Stara Zagora
was a Roma village called Lozenets.
[people scream]
[overlapping chattering]
[Kevin] We met up with a Roma man named Toshko,
who appeared to be the spokesman for the village.
Manipulating the poor is something that happens in all countries,
but these Roma people were like refugees of the Cold War.
So in hopes of helping our investigation,
I wanted to dig deeper.
Some of the, you know, the gypsies you talk to,
they claim that they do, that they do pay
for their water, they do pay for their electricity,
that they do have the right to have that land there.
Is that all, is that all just talk? Is none of that's real, or is it--
Right, right, I get it. So they'll all vote for them.
[Kevin] And then once he gets in office,
he's, like, he's out of there.
[Kevin] Toshko's daughter, Toni, was only 12 years old, but for Roma people,
getting married and having babies usually starts at age 14.
[Kevin] As a journalist, I know you're not supposed to get personally involved,
but when the Roma people invited us to dinner, how could we refuse?
[upbeat music]
[lively music]
Did you learn any English today? Did she learn English? Does she have a phrase?
-[Taylor] Toni, what color is this? -[translator translates]
[Taylor cheers]
[Kevin] The majority of young Roma girls are sold
by their parents at the local brides mart,
where there's a very good chance they would end up victims
of the massive human trafficking networks orchestrated by the Russian mafia.
Maybe if we could keep one child from becoming a sex slave, it would bring us good luck
for our investigation.
The next day, we hired a private tutor,
but when she discovered that Toni was Roma, she suddenly declined.
What do you mean? You are teacher of Toni, and you just want to speak
about how the lessons are going on and such things.
She said, "No, no, no, I don't want to be part of it."
[Kevin] I soon learned that the racism here was harshly focused on the Roma,
who ironically suffered the worst
from the collapse of communism.
This is what we call an impromptu English lesson in Stara Zagora.
This animal makes a sound. [roars]
What animal is this?
[Kevin] We had to keep moving with our investigation,
but before we left, we decided to help Toni
with a few items that could help her in school.
-Wow. -[Taylor] Wow, that's so cute.
[Toni laughs]
-Film it, film it. -Where's Paul? We should have the other camera going.
[Toni cries]
I mean, this story, Toni's such a magical little creature,
she's so sweet, and so smart,
and she represents everything good, and the fact that
that tutor wouldn't teach her is just, like, gross,
-it speaks to the mental just conflict in this area. -Yeah.
-It's a really great story. -It's crazy racism.
[Kevin] So glad to return to our quiet hotel in Sofia, we were surprised to learn
it was a location of non-stop high school graduation parties going on for an entire week.
[Kevin] Hot cars, clothes, rivers of booze,
and lots of young faces with seemingly bright futures.
The contrast between these young adults and the ones we had left back
at the Roma village couldn't have been any greater.
[upbeat pop music]
[Kevin] Bulgaria is one of the few countries in the entire world
with a shrinking population.
[upbeat pop music]
-[Kevin] Are you gonna stay here after you graduate? -No.
-So why are you leaving? -There is no future in Bulgaria, like,
everything, like, this country is filled
with hate and, like, no tolerance at all,
so I'm probably, I'm, like, I'm definitely,
like, when I was graduating, they asked me,
like, what do you want to do, so, like,
I never, like, staying in Bulgaria
-to study was never an option. -[Kevin] Yeah?
I just had to leave, I know that I have to leave.
[Kevin] With the brightest young adults forced
to leave the country, and the poorest,
least educated being used to rig voting,
I wanted to see if I could discover a direct link
between the former communist mafia
and the election meddling currently happening here and back home.
[somber music]
Milla suggested we meet a young Western thinking politician
who agreed to participate in our film
in hopes that it would expose his country's corruption
to a Western audience.
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
[Kevin] In 2013, Ivaylo ran for Prime Minister
against Boyko Borisov, but according to several experts,
there was proof that Ivaylo got 9% of the vote.
So when Boyko won in an overwhelming landslide,
it became obvious that there was other forces at work.
[Kevin] The next day, Ivaylo called the head members
of his Nova Bulgaria Party in preparation
for his bid to run for mayor of a small town.
After losing so hard to Boyko,
maybe this was a little more realistic.
[Kevin] A few days later, I received a brutal voicemail
from a man who had backed Ivaylo, based upon his promise to bring
honest Western thinking into Bulgarian politics.
[Kevin] According to Ivaylo's Western backer,
Ivaylo had gone against the principles
of the Nova Bulgaria party by making a sudden coalition
with a former communist party called VMRO.
Soon after this announcement, a scandalous video surfaced
of VMRO members beating a bunch of Jehovah's Witnesses.
The local press accused the former communists
of being white nationalists.
[Kevin] With the nationwide election only days away,
we headed to the tiny farming town
on the outskirts of Sofia called Elin Pelin.
Okay, so then what made him decide Elin Pelin?
-[Kevin] The election is Sunday? -Yes.
Okay, is there any sense right now of, like, polling of where they are in the polls
and where you are in the polls, or, like, in polls?
They're putting you in seventh place right now.
So there's, how many people are running, seven?
Eleven candidates, and he's seven right now,
so what's, wow, okay, well.
What are you gonna do? You better, like--
He better pull a rabbit out of a hat.
You're gonna win, how?
[Kevin] Learning that billions of dollars were coming
from foreign investors made it clear
why the former communist party of VMRO
would be so interested in a place like Elin Pelin.
[car door slams]
Golden chicken. [laughs]
-[Taylor] Milla, are you excited about voting? -No.
[Kevin] Today you get a choice.
[Kevin] Before heading into one of the municipalities,
I decided to check out some of the other political candidates.
[somber music]
It was discovered in the Paradise Papers data dump
that Russia exerts localized control,
working through each individual municipality.
In Bulgaria, there were 256 mayors,
many acting as a kind of field lieutenant,
a man or a woman living amongst the people.
[somber music]
[Taylor] Great.
♪ Rolling, rolling
[laughter]
[Kevin] That night, we went to the National Palace of Culture to witness the election returns.
From behind a barrier, we stood with a handful of freezing citizens,
watching a giant TV screen, guarded by police,
as if we might attack the TV, if outraged by the results.
Soon, the returns of the race for mayor were announced,
and to our amazement, Ivaylo had overcome
the incredible odds by beating Boyko's ruling party.
Was this similar to the Russian style meddling happening
back in America, or was Ivaylo just an average man,
doing whatever required to win?
[Kevin] Do you believe he joined the dark side
to win by joining the VMRO?
[somber music]
[Kevin] A few days later, we went to visit Ivaylo
in his new digs, as the mayor of Elin Pelin.
We were just in time for the decision
on how to deal with the local Roma people,
now the election was over.
Let's go inside.
Now, they're, they're claiming the VMRO is
tied into the communists.
No, let's come back here later on--
Are you sure he's not gonna go somewhere, we're not gonna go somewhere?
All right, all right, have a good one.
[Taylor] Okay.
[Kevin] After accusing Ivaylo of being a communist,
I realize this had little to do with political ideology,
and everything to do with money and control.
When I google Bulgaria, the most significant thing
that pops up is the fact that only a few years ago,
in 2013, they had insane protests.
It was like their own Bulgarian Spring, what happened?
I decided to meet with a young man named Ivaylo Dinev
and his two close counterparts,
who I was told led many of the 2013 protests.
[Kevin] During the big protests, Ivaylo led thousands of students who'd blocked the members
of Parliament in their building for over five hours.
However, the final result of all this was
that he and the other protestors had a major falling out
and a parting of the ways.
[Kevin] With all of this corruption and outside influences,
I wondered why the media wasn't doing anything to expose it all.
[Kevin] When communism fell, Bulgaria became a free for all
for rich, connected oligarchs buying up
and privatizing everything of value
that should belong to the state.
[Kevin] In 2013, with no experience and no qualifications,
Delyan Peevski was suddenly appointed Chief
of Bulgaria's National Security Agency, DANS,
by none other than his own mother.
[Kevin] I discovered a report, titled Media Oligarchs Go Shopping,
listing Delyan Peevski as one of the world's 12 top media oligarchs,
part of a consolidated, shrinking network of ownership
that only serves the political financial interests
of its owners, all basically using the same methods.
[dramatic music]
[Kevin] It was starting to become clear
that although Bulgaria was a tiny place halfway
around the world, it was a perfect microcosm
for things happening in the West.
[dramatic music]
[Kevin] The next day, a new report named Bulgaria as being the most corrupt country
inside the European Union.
Fed up with the worsening corruption inside the government,
an independent group of lawyers and progressive professionals,
calling themselves the Protest Network,
organized a conference to decide how
to rid their country of the mafia.
[audience applauds]
[Kevin] The guest of honor was an outsider named Monica Macovei,
a famous Romanian prosecutor who had quietly worked her way
up the ranks inside the corrupt government of Romania.
But when the time was right, she was able
to put dozens of rich, powerful officials behind bars
for looting the country.
[Kevin] Monica also had active indictments
on over 1,000 more suspected officials.
So what's the difference between corruption in Romania, versus the corruption
that's going on here in Bulgaria?
[Kevin] Monica was obviously putting her life in danger
by coming to Bulgaria, she was very hesitant
to allow me to interview her, but agreed
when we offered to drive her directly back to the airport.
I know, that's what I was just thinking, what is she thinking, like--
We're taking some weird road. And suddenly, like, this is--
-Anyone can pretend it's a-- -I know, [laughs] we're just like.
[Kevin] Is there any indication that anything that's going
on here, goes all the way up the ladder to Putin?
[Kevin] Monica's statement about Russia wanting corrupted states reminded me
of an old sitcom I grew up watching, calledGet Smart,
where the Russian KGB was called KAOS,
because if Russia is responsible
for creating chaos today back in the States,
I would have to admit, they are succeeding brilliantly.
[Kevin] Right after I asked if anyone believed that there could be a spy in the room,
a very strange woman started accusing Monica of being a phony.
[crowd boos]
[Kevin] Later that day, she appeared all over the Peevski-owned media
with an alternate version of the conference, calling Monica Macovei a pathetic fraud.
It seemed like she had friends in high places, but I had an idea,
the next day we contacted the Peevski TV station,
and told them an American journalist working
on a cultural travel show wanted to talk
about how great Bulgaria was.
My plan was simple, wait until I was on live TV
so I couldn't be censored, and then defend Monica Macovei
against all the distortions being made by the mafia-owned media.
She said there's been a total of 44 politicians jailed.
If I could trick the Peevski censorship machine,
perhaps it would inspire others to do the same.
Hi, hi, how's it going?
How you doing, hello.
-Hi. -Hello.
Hi, I'm Kevin, nice to meet you, thanks for having us.
[Kevin] As soon as the live show started, I realized my plan had one fatal flaw,
I didn't speak the local language,
and had no way of knowing what was being said.
That's it, that's fine, bye.
Left out the best.
[Kevin] I'll never know if my translation device
was purposefully not working,
but if I ever get another chance
to appear on Bulgarian TV,
I'll use a device not owned by Peevski.
[background noise drowns out speaker]
Yeah.
[Kevin] By the spring of 2014, it's estimated
that Peevski and his mother had borrowed hundreds
of millions of dollars, buying up over 85%
of all the country's media.
The bulk of this debt was to a bank known as the CCB,
Corporate Commercial Bank of Bulgaria.
The bank's main shareholder, Tzvetan Vassilev,
had become suspicious of the Peevskis,
and suddenly demanded full payment.
[Kevin] It was at this time that Peevski unleashed
his Bulgarian media machine on Tzvetan
and his family, by publicly accusing the banker
of attempting to murder him, causing total panic,
and a run on the bank that caused it to close.
So, did you personally lose money on this deal?
Can I ask you exactly how much did you lose?
[Kevin] When the CC Bank collapsed, an American company called Ayr Logistics,
based in Dallas, Texas, also lost 65 million dollars.
Under the watch of the Bulgarian national bank
C.C.B. Conservator an American asset
of sixty five million dollars grew legs and walked away
to the detriment of a U.S. company and to the detriment of
the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings creditors.
[Kevin] The money had been deposited into the Bulgarian bank after the sale
of a local real estate investment, north of Sunny Beach.
[Sylvia J. Rolinsky, Esq.] The taking of the sixty five million
orchestrated by Peevski to pay off five company debts
which related to call options
that were being controlled through the Russian V.T.B. bank.
[Kevin] Trying to get one of these shadowy figures to talk on film was never gonna happen.
However, due to Tzvetan Vassilev's vulnerable situation,
it could be in his best interest to talk.
We contacted an anonymous insider,
and hoped to hear back from Tzvetan with bated breath.
In the meantime, while investigating Peevski's bank records,
the team discovered two huge homes,
side by side, camouflaged by a much poorer area.
Ah. Wow.
This is it, this is the moment we've been waiting for.
We're standing out close to this place,
next to Peevski's house, and we're launching the drone.
This is our third attempt at trying
to fly over Peevski's house, can you see the house?
Yeah, this is the street, and on the left and right, the buildings.
[Kevin] You know, we have no idea what the reaction would be, or,
there's been a lot of tension about doing this, a lot of warnings.
You wouldn't really guess what we're doing, we're kind of just,
like, standing here, it doesn't really look like we're flying a drone,
we're just kind of standing here in the bushes with cameras.
Uhm, posing as just tourists.
People say that Peevski is the Al Capone of Bulgaria.
[Kevin] According to our researchers, these two massive homes belong
to Peevski and his mother, kind of the ultimate mother-in-law plan.
But because of all their scandals, they were able
to alter the official tax records in order to make it look
as if they do not own any such properties inside Bulgaria.
If we could get an actual glimpse of one
of the Peevskis inside one of these homes,
it would be a massive scandal.
[Kevin] This could be somebody.
[drone whines]
[Kevin] And we go, damn, we should have got that insurance.
[overlapping chatter]
And we're probably not gonna get the best price, either, by buying it here in Sofia.
[Kevin] Trying to get any dirt on these shadowy figures was proving
to be harder than I anticipated,
so it was time to change our tactics.
Hey, these things happen, right? At least no one got hurt.
[Kevin] While Tzvetan Vassilev remained the most wanted man
in Bulgaria, we had one thing the entire media machine
of the country didn't, a journalist not working for Peevski.
So I don't really, I don't know you that well,
but, you know, a little, American style gift.
And I don't know if this is the kind of thing you would like or not.
I don't know, I mean, if you drink or not.
You like to drink, all right.
[Kevin] Company registration in Lichtenstein.
Okay.
Yeah, accusing Peevski's mother.
But this is also accusing Tzvetan of the same thing, right?
[Kevin] Knowing he would never get a fair trial in Bulgaria,
Tzvetan and his family did the only thing
they could do to protect their lives, they fled the country.
At the same time, an angry mob
who had lost their money in the sudden bank run,
gathered in front of the failed bank, complete
with an amazingly accurate Tzvetan Vassilev lookalike.
I couldn't help but wonder if the Peevski machine was
behind this perfectly staged demonstration.
[people chanting]
[Kevin] The team met up to watch coverage
of Tzvetan's extradition trial, happening in Serbia.
There he is. Assen, you're missing it.
A few seconds after it was announced
that the Serbian government would protect Tzvetan
against Peevski, Assen received
an encrypted message containing a secret rendezvous location
of Bulgaria's most wanted fugitive.
So we hit the road in hopes of meeting the one man
who truly understood the cost of Russian style manipulation.
What's the Serbian national anthem, sing it.
Come on, you guys don't know the Serbian national anthem?
[Kevin] What do you know about Serbia?
Looking like a huge what?
What's that?
Like a pastry?
[Kevin] If Tzvetan Vassilev was sitting right here,
what would you say to him?
[Kevin] We were instructed not to bring any cameras
or cellphones to our initial meeting.
In the street, we were unexpectedly met
by two plainclothes policemen who escorted us
into the hotel lobby, where another team
of Tzvetan's personal security searched us, and ran background checks.
We were then led into a very nice Serbian grill restaurant,
where we were joined by Tzvetan and his wife.
For the next few hours, we got to know each other,
and once Tzvetan became comfortable,
his security gave us instructions
to a location where we could conduct our interview.
-[slow piano music] -[background chattering]
Rolling?
[claps]
[Kevin] Because of how much money his bank had lent,
many of Tzvetan's detractors say they had a hard time
believing he wasn't aware of Peevski's criminal enterprises.
[somber music]
[Kevin] How did his mother come upon all this wealth and power?
Wow. [laughs]
[Kevin] Accusing your enemies of attempted murder was KGB 101.
-[screams] -[audience cries out]
[Kevin] In 2013, the head of Peevski's Turkish party,
Ahmed Dogan, staged his own assassination,
creating a groundswell of support, leading to his victory.
The man with the fake gun served a very short sentence.
So it came as no surprise when Peevski applied the same winning strategy
towards the banker, in order to put the final death nail
in his Bulgarian coffin.
[somber music]
What kind of personal relationship
did you ever have with Peevski?
Did you ever have a personal relationship with him?
[Kevin] We interviewed Tzvetan for over four solid hours,
but the only time he gave us specific banking details
about Peevski and the former KGB mafia
was during breaks away from our cameras.
[Kevin] Tzvetan told us so many schemes, it could fill an encyclopedia,
but we needed just one lead that we could follow for the film.
[Kevin] Assen published several articles about a Bulgarian tobacco company
that he claimed once belonged to the people,
but now mostly belonged all to Peevski.
[somber music]
[Kevin] Bulgartabac is the Balkan equivalent
of the American conglomerate, RJ Reynolds,
supplying tobacco for many brands,
brands like Trump Flights, Eva Slims, M&Ms, Opal, Select,
Rex, Kenton, Okay, Stewardess, and Prestige.
[Kevin] Protecting its own black market trade routes
is top priority for the Russian mafia.
If I could understand how privatizing something
like a tobacco company gives its owning oligarchs
the ability to move money and products unimpeded
across borders, it would be an amazing glimpse into a mode
of doing things that is now happening
with America's largest competitor, China.
Driving overnight back into Bulgaria,
I could feel a sense of relief amongst our Bulgarian crew,
good to be home, yes, but as it turns out,
they had serious doubts that we could meet Tzvetan
in Serbia without being tracked by the former Soviet mafia.
[Kevin] The next morning, we arrived at the Bulgartabac headquarters, back in Sofia.
[Kevin] A former CIA acquaintance recommended
that we travel into Turkey, and meet with a man
who had dedicated his life to fighting ISIS.
If we could connect the dots between the old Soviet trade network's privatized
tobacco company and the modern war on terror, it could be huge.
[city noises]
[Kevin] Look at this.
Here, get a shot of this, who would have ever thought, in the middle of all these things?
[Taylor] I know, who would have ever thought?
The equipment we need to spy on them is right here.
[Kevin] Apparently they have a place out in the open.
[Paul] A launchpad, a proper launchpad.
Oh, yeah, this is awesome.
This is almost worth the 4,000 bucks, right here.
Well, as, I'd rather break here.
-[drone chirps] -[background chattering]
[drone whines]
[oriental chanting]
[Kevin] Most Americans, including myself, couldn't point
to Bulgaria on a map, but driving from Sofia
to Istanbul made me realize its geographical significance,
a true crossroads between Europe and the Middle East, Russia, and America.
[oriental music]
In Istanbul, we met up with Dr. Ahmet Yela,
who had infiltrated an ISIS social network
while working undercover in Aleppo.
[slow electronic music]
[Kevin] Posing as an ISIS member inside the network, Ahmet was able to download thousands
of execution videos, and had one in particular he wanted to show us.
[Kevin] Yeah, I mean, the camera work looks amazing, I mean, this looks better than our film.
Those aren't Prestige cigarettes, are they?
Those are Prestige cigarettes? Oh, my god.
-Let's see. [chuckles] -Bulgartabac in the frame.
Researching the past five years of Bulgartabac's finances revealed a curious anomaly.
Back in 2009, the Balkan tobacco giant showed
a massive increase in exports.
Curiously, at the same time, ISIS was gaining strength
under the leadership of al-Baghdadi.
This Peevski in Bulgaria, he could ship in,
say, truckloads of cigarettes off the books,
and have 'em shipped in. And then, what?
He gets cash under the table for doing that
and then in turn that helps finance ISIS?
-[Taylor] This is a party bus. -[Kevin] It looks like a disco.
[Taylor] It is like a party bus.
[Kevin] Before heading back into Bulgaria,
Milla bought us a wishing lantern,
with hopes that it would fly ahead and bring us luck.
[overlapping chattering]
-[Taylor] Should we let it go? -[Kevin] Bring it lower to the ground.
No, it's not going to happen. Okay, it's flying.
-[Taylor] Let it go, it's flying-- -It's flying, it's flying.
[Taylor] Watch out, everybody.
[overlapping chattering]
-He knows what he's doing. -[Taylor] He knows what he's doing, let's go with this guy.
[Paul] Kid to the rescue.
[Taylor] What do you do?
-[Paul] Kid to the rescue. -[Taylor] Kid to the rescue.
[Kevin] Most Turkish people we spoke to, knew very little about their ancient neighbors
to the north, and yet the two countries share
over five centuries of brutality and peace.
-[group cheers] -[overlapping chattering]
[Kevin] With such a tragic history of manipulation by outsiders,
I could only hope, for the young members of our team,
that Bulgaria will eventually find security,
without the eastern or western superpowers.
[somber music]
[Kevin] As an American, visiting Turkey felt like a Middle Eastern neighborhood
in New York, but crossing back into Bulgaria reminded me
of just how far from home I really was.
Have a seat for a while? [laughs]
[somber music]
[Kevin] The next day, we went to one of Assen's secret locations
to see if we could get any more information on Bulgartabac.
[Kevin] A random custom's inspection
of the Bulgartabac facility exposed
that the factory was illegally running around the clock,
most likely manufacturing off the book cigarettes.
[Kevin] Unable to restore the 65 million dollars lost
in the Peevski bank takeover, the Dallas-based company,
Ayr Logistics, was forced to file for bankruptcy,
initiating an American-backed investigation
that connected Bulgartabac and the communication giant,
Vivacom, back to Peevski and the Russian state bank, VTB.
[TV reporter] VTB held two call options for
the Bulgartabac holdings and Vivacom.
One gave access to Bulgartabac through the Middle East market
and the other gave access to telecommunications,
including strategic sector significance, like NATO
communication, satellites information, airplane security.
This allows Russia to participate and have control
and finance certain segments from that revenue.
[Kevin] Assen suggested that we go to the main Bulgartabac factory
in a remote mountain town called Blagoevgrad.
[Kevin] What does VTB stand for?
[Kevin] The American-backed investigation done
by attorney, Zahari Tomaf, discovered
that the Russian VTB's interest in Bulgartabac was twofold.
One, maintain control over the manufacture
and distribution of all their cigarette brands
in the Middle East markets, including Syria,
Iran, and Iraq, in direct violation of UN sanctions,
and two, Russia would then use these profits
to finance its long arm of regional control in the Middle East.
[drone whines]
After only a few minutes of snooping around, several security guards dressed in black
-began rushing towards our van.
[Kevin] I had never used a bodyguard, but just the night before,
a friend of mine operating a non-profit
in Sofia insisted we use one of his men.
[Kevin] When the men realized I was an American
with a legally armed Bulgarian guard,
they instantly backed down,
but they still insisted we leave.
[Taylor] Time to go?
-Yeah, go. -[Taylor] Okay.
[car door slams]
[somber music]
[Kevin] I googled the name Ipon Security from the men's uniforms, and I discovered
that they were the private security force for
the Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Boyko Borisov.
[Kevin] Assen told me that Bulgaria and the other countries that Russia seeks control over
exist between the chief prosecutors.
[Kevin] As it just so happen, Putin's right hand man, Chief Prosecutor Yury Chaika,
was recently spotted having undocumented meetings
with the Chief Prosecutor of Bulgaria, Sotir Tsatsarov.
[somber music]
[Kevin] The famous Russian activist punk band,
playfully named Pussy Riot,
put out a music video titledChaika,
showing how the Russian prosecutor uses the power
of Putin to destroy enemies and ensure success
for family and comrades.
With Russia, Turkey, and America all
at Bulgaria's doorstep, it felt like there was a lot at stake.
[Kevin] The team was running on fumes, but the discovery
that several countries could all be controlled
by a single prosecutor might be
the breakthrough I'd been searching for.
Through a series of Assen's connections, we're able to get a few minutes
with an insider whose life is dedicated to exposing this fraud.
First of all, I mean, do you feel like this system
of corruption, has this, has this leaked in
from another country, I mean, is this,
is this type of, of way of controlling people
through the prosecution, I mean,
is this a Bulgarian invention,
or is this a Russian invention,
or is this a mafia invention?
Who invented this form of blackmailing
through the prosecution office?
[Kevin] On April 15th, 2016,
over 11.5 million documents were leaked
from one of the world's largest law firms,
located in Panama, with offices all over the globe.
The documents contained secret attorney - client information
for over 200,000 offshore entities.
This data dump has become known as the Panama Papers.
Inside the Panama Papers, Assen and his team
of investigators found irrefutable evidence
of Peevski being used to siphon money
from the EU via Bulgaria, ultimately moving it
to offshore accounts, connecting back
to the ghost-like Soviet KGB network.
But what do you do with this evidence, who do you give it to?
Anonymous sources investigating global fraud
and money laundering rumor that when the money trail leads
to Bulgaria, they simply give up, it's a waste of time.
[Kevin] The Panama Papers also aided the American investigation,
linking VTB's interest in the Vivicom Group Telecommunications Company
with access into all cellphones and Internet traffic.
This also gave them control over the radio frequencies
and telecommunications for military,
diplomatic, civil, and commercial aircraft and satellites,
all supposedly operating inside a NATO state.
Russia also gained back control over 850 radio frequency broadcasting towers,
and the Plana satellite station covering most
of Africa it had lost at the fall of communism.
The time I spent with Jordan caused me to share in his pain and contempt
for the corrupt government threatening the future of his children,
but Jordan wasn't the kind of guy to give up without a fight,
and I respected the fact that he wasn't afraid
to go up against the gangsters holding his country hostage.
[Kevin] Later that day, he brought us to the steps of the chief prosecutor's office
to meet the leader of the protest network, an attorney named Nikolay Stoykov,
who had also dedicated his life to dismantling the old Soviet style trade network.
[Kevin] The over 2.3 billion euro loss
in the CCB crash wasn't only corporations.
There were nearly 8,000 private Bulgarian citizens
whose life savings also vanished.
With no one to turn to, thousands of citizens took
to the streets, one slogan, "who is the other fat man",
showed the chief prosecutor inside Peevski's shadow.
[crowd chants]
Later that day, yet another report came out,
citing Bulgaria as the most corrupt country in Europe.
I came here with the intention of shedding light
on the Russian meddling going on back in the States,
but the frustration of these people's situation
was really starting to get me depressed.
[somber music]
-[Taylor] Oh my god, this is so fun. -[Kevin] Hey, Toni.
[Taylor] This is awesome, are you on your new computer?
[Kevin] I look gross.
[Taylor] Oh, no.
Oh, this is the first Skype ever.
[Kevin] At dinner, the young Roma girl,
Toni, Skyped us, I was so excited,
until I learned that she was calling from a pawn shop to say
that her parents were selling her computer
to buy tickets for a carnival.
The next day, we headed back to the Roma village,
with the intention of getting Toni's computer out of hock.
[Kevin] I'm sorry.
That's very sweet, that's very sweet.
[Kevin] Doing anything in Bulgaria requires permission
from one of the many ministries left behind by the Soviet Union.
Okay.
[somber music]
[Kevin] Back when we gave Toni a laptop computer,
she promised us that she would stay in school.
But the reality of their lives often puts simple things,
like finding food, ahead of an education.
[Kevin] We had been trying to get Toni to learn just a little basic English,
in hopes that one day she could visit America.
With several failed attempts at hiring tutors
and private teachers, it was frustrating
to learn that there was an English class in Toni's school,
but she wasn't in it.
What about:
♪ Happy birthday to you
All right, it's your birthday?
♪ Happy birthday to you
♪ Jingle bells, jingle bells
♪ Jingle all the way
We've been trying to help this one girl here,
Toni, who we've been following for a while, and,
you know, we started off trying to teach her English,
-and to be honest with you, it just hasn't gone so well. -Okay.
And it's disappointing to me to come here and see that she's not even in her class.
Is it too late to get Toni into this class? What should we do?
So what made you want to be in a Roma school?
[audience applauds]
[Kevin] It's said that the only future occupation guaranteed
to the young Roma children is that of pimp or prostitute.
[audience applauds and whistles]
[Kevin] So in hopes of inspiring a few kids to stay in school,
Jordan was able to contact a young Roma man
who also grew up in a poor village,
but was now a renowned medical doctor.
[audience applauds]
[Kevin] Toshko told us that if he couldn't find work,
his wife would have to become a prostitute,
and Toni could possibly follow right behind.
[dogs snarl]
[somber music]
[Kevin] Toshko said he wanted to open a coffee shop
in the village, hoping to keep Toni out of the brides mart,
we made a small donation.
[slow solemn music]
[fireworks pop]
[slow electronic music]
[Kevin] Hoping to see the big picture of how
post Cold War Russia exerts its control over
other countries, I contacted an associate, Robert Steel,
who had been a longtime intelligence officer for the CIA.
After several trials and tribulations, he was able
to get us a brief meeting with a former KGB agent
and four star Russian general, Oleg Kalugin.
[Kevin] What did you mean when you said that Bulgarians were the most kindred
to the Russian mindset?
[somber music]
[Kevin] The Bulgarians had everything they needed to rid their country
of the criminals, but the problem was that the top protest leaders stopped communicating
with each other after the fallout from the massive 2014 protests.
I needed a way to somehow get them all back together,
just one more time, and perhaps spark a protest
that couldn't be stopped.
Back in 2012, an all-girl punk band called Pussy Riot staged a protest
against Putin by performing on the alter
of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
The lead singer, Nadya, and her collaborators were sentenced
to two years of hard labor at a Siberian prison camp.
However, the silver lining to the story was the massive global fame that came to them,
and a kind of title of being some
of the greatest protestors of all time.
[somber music]
[Kevin] Did you hear about the girl band, Pussy Riot,
that staged that protest, and all that?
[Kevin] But was it the church that pressured Putin
into locking them up for two years?
[Kevin] But they spent-- but Nadya
and the other girls spent two years in prison.
[Kevin] Wandering around inside the Russian embassy,
I felt like a kid in some sort of evil candy store.
-I didn't want to leave, but being here gave me an idea.-[laughter]
-[Taylor] Really cool. Oh, yeah. -[woman] I'd love to have a party here.
[Kevin] The two main protest leaders who represented completely different factions
had a huge falling out after the 2014 protests,
and swore they would never work together again.
However, if we wanted to trigger a truly huge protest,
it was imperative they bury their Bulgarian hatchet and join forces again.
My plan was simple, invite each one of them separately
to meet with the members of Pussy Riot,
while excluding the fact the other would be there.
With Pussy Riot as the bait, how could it fail?
[singing]
[Kevin] Pussy Riot's trademark move was concealing their identities
by wearing brightly colored ski masks called balaclavas.
We met with a protestor that recently had been arrested
for mimicking Pussy Riot by painting the heads of the Soviet war monuments.
[Kevin] We were able to contact Pyotr Verzilov,
the lead singer's husband and group's manager,
who agreed to come to Sofia with Nadya
and one of the other members of the band.
[Kevin] With Pussy Riot en route, we went to see some of the monuments
that were pissing everybody off.
[Kevin] Seeing these Soviet war monuments still standing
in the sovereign nation of Bulgaria reminded me of the controversy
back home over the Confederate statues from the American Civil War.
This gave me an idea. What if we leaked a rumor to the media
that Pussy Riot was gonna stage a trademark action
at the Soviet war monument?
Hopefully it would cause a tidal wave of attention,
thereby reuniting the protestors,
and perhaps injecting them with Pussy Riot's punk spirit.
There was just one problem, the statues' heads
were way too big for store-bought balaclavas.
With Pussy Riot arriving in a matter of hours, we found the only open store in Sofia
that had colored material, and stayed up all night cutting holes in 20 new dresses.
[slow electronic music]
[humming]
[Kevin] Before the Russian punk rockers arrived,
I felt it was my patriotic duty
to teach the Bulgarians the correct history of punk rock.
[Kevin] You want some action?
[slow electronic music]
[sirens blaring]
[indistinct chatter]
[Kevin] No questions about the pig.
[laughter]
[Kevin] The next day, our plan fell into full effect
when the two rivaling leaders sat together
and broke bread. If this didn't spark a protest,
I was fresh out of ideas.
[Kevin] Getting the media's attention sealed the deal,
and a new plan was hatched to surround Parliament
during their next session.
[Kevin] With the protestors surrounding the parliament building, pressure inside
to expose the former Soviet network came to a boil.
That was until Peevski made a surprise appearance,
reminding everyone who they really worked for.
[applause]
[overlapping chattering]
[Kevin] In a last ditch effort at damage control,
Boyko called an emergency press conference.
[Kevin] Numerous attempts at interviewing Peevski,
Boyko, and the American embassy went totally ignored.
But with many of the key players
inside the parliament building,
the thousands of bank crash victims
and other law abiding citizens were going
to force them to listen, one way or the other.
[people chanting and whistling]
[protestors chanting]
[Kevin] When I first met Jordan, he was already an activist, but I'd like to think
that a little of my American rebel spirit wore off on him.
[Kevin] In the summer of 2017,
Tzvetan's daughter, was arrested at the Belgrade airport.
However, it was quickly discovered that
Bulgarian officials had manipulated
the Interpol system for political revenge.
[Kevin] Back in 2009, a Russian accountant
and lawyer named Sergei Magnitsky was tortured to death in prison, after uncovering
a 230 million dollar tax fraud directly linked to Putin.
Putin is the richest man in the world, I would estimate he's worth 200 billion dollars,
and much of that money is held by nominees offshore,
and that money will eventually be frozen, under the Magnitsky Act,
if he ever loses his power as President of Russia.
[Kevin] In 2016, Congress enacted
the global Magnitsky Act, allowing the US government
to sanction foreign officials implicated in human rights abuses anywhere
in the world, including Russia.
They, there were two effectively agents
of the Russian government who went to Donald Trump Jr.,
and said, "Can you help us withdraw this act
if your father gets elected president?"
[Kevin] In November of 2017, Tzvetan Vassilev hired
an American law firm in hopes of placing criminal sanctions
against Peevski through the U.S. Magnitsky Act.
[piano music]
[Kevin] Placing officials like Peevski into key positions
is something that all Mafia's and governments engage in.
But what I discovered is that Bulgaria is a small copy of Russia
with the same wild privatization benefiting the communist and KGB industrial complex,
a type of genesis of oligarchs formed from a carbon copy of old Communist Party appointees,
fully in control of the Judicial system, election outcomes,
and most importantly money & power.
[Kevin] The investigation triggered by Dallas-based Ayr Logistics' bankruptcy
unleashed a lawsuit against Peevski,
accusing the young oligarch and the Russian VTB Bank
of using American money to keep control
over Bulgartabac and Vivacom.
[indistinct chattering]
[Kevin] Many Americans forget that over 20 million Russians died
in order to defeat the Nazi's,
and when the Soviet Union fell, it put a permanent scar on Russia.
So it shouldn't be shocking to the West
that Putin success will ultimately be measured
by his restoration of the great empire.
The Cold War may have ended, but the war on basic freedom,
democracy, and rights continues.
[Kevin] Before heading back to America, we had one last stop. We had given our Roma friend,
Toshko, a little financial help to build the first of its kind gypsy coffee shop.
A few members of the crew wagered me that the gypsies probably used the money
for something else, but I had to have faith.
Obviously many of the richest people in Bulgaria were not honest, but I was hoping
that maybe, just maybe, some of the poorest were.
-[Taylor] Yeah. -What if, like, it was just an amazing coffee shop,
we pull up, and we were like, all just like, damn, you did it.
-[Taylor] We'll eat our words. -Like, huge beautiful sign, big entrance.
-Is that crazy? -Toshko.
[Taylor] Is this the coffee shop?
[Kevin] Is that Toshko, what?
-[Taylor] Oh, my God. -[Kevin] What?
-[Taylor] Wait, no. -[Kevin] That's not it.
-[Taylor] That can't-- -[Paul] It looks like a coffee shop.
[Kevin] Are they staging this for us?
[overlapping chattering]
-Yeah. -[Taylor laughs]
[Kevin laughs]
[Taylor] This could be an elaborate theatrical performance.
[Kevin] Yeah, check it out.
-Crew cheering] -[Taylor] Wow.
[Taylor] Hi, how are you, I love that baby.
This is amazing.
This is great, I'm totally impressed.
So how's business?
[Kevin] This place is making millions, come on.
[laughter]
So you just feeding electricity to some other building, or taking it from another building?
That's awesome.
[Paul] Perfect.
Bye.
[Taylor] Milla, can you help with the door? Milla, can you help with the big door?
-Yeah. -[Taylor] Thanks, girl.
[Kevin] I came to this tiny country with the expectation of finding a total breakdown
in society, but with all the hatred and discourse going
on back in the States, I realize that whatever it was
that Bulgaria had been through had also created
a lasting sense of unity and values
that seemed to circumvent politics and money.
I found a famous Bulgarian quote.
Translated, it says, "The best time to plant a tree
was 20 years ago, the second best time is now."
[melancholic music]
[upbeat dance music]