Putin's Oil Heist

By: Loren Steffy
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  • Summary

  • If you want to understand the story behind the story of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, you can draw a straight line back to the Yukos affair. Bruce Misamore was an oil industry exeuctive at the Yukous Oil Company who found himself with a front-row seat to the world’s largest state-sponsored theft. In this thrilling 6-part documentary, Loren Steffy, author and investigative journalist shares the story of Putin's takeover of Yukos, and how it impacted the world, with first-hand accounts from Bruce Misamore.
    2022
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Business & Careers Economics Political Science
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Episodes
  • Introducing Putin's Oil Heist

    Introducing Putin's Oil Heist
    May 12 2022
    Putin's Oil Heist is 6-part series by Loren Steffy is exporing the Yukos Saga - and traces a direct line from it to Russia's invasion of Ukraine this year. Bruce Misamore, a former Yukos Oil executive, shares his experience being on the front lines of the worlds largest state-sponsored theft.
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    3 mins
  • Episode 1: Putin’s Plan

    Episode 1: Putin’s Plan
    Jun 1 2022
    Putin's Oil Heist Episode 1: Putin’s Plan   “If you want to understand the story behind the story of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, you can draw a straight line back to the Yukos Affair.” The demise of Yukos, Russia’s second-biggest oil company, marked the first time that Vladimir Putin tested the West, watching to see how the West would respond to the seizing of the company’s assets, Bruce Misamore says. Putin’s Oil Heist is an insider’s account of the Yukos Affair. In this pilot episode, host Loren Steffy explores how it unfolded, with first-person accounts from Misamore, the company’s former Chief Financial Treasurer.   Learn About: Bruce Misamore’s expectations when he went to Russia in the early 2000’s. When Vladimir Putin rose to power, he was seen as someone who wanted to reform the Russian government and strengthen ties with the West. Bruce thought he’d be helping to modernize and establish new standards for Russian business to operate in the global market.  Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s rise to riches. Prior to being Misamore’s boss at Yukos, Khodorkovsky was a communist youth leader who started a business selling imported computers with some friends. With the money they made from the PC business, they started a bank, Menatep, and helped keep the Russian government afloat by buying assets from struggling state-owned businesses. Among the companies Menatep controlled was Yukos. How Misamore came to work for Yukos. By the year 2000, Khodorkovsky had positioned himself as the leading practitioner of normalized democratic capitalism in Russia and insisted on making Yukos more transparent by bringing in foreign directors to establish internationally recognized standards for the company’s operations. Despite Khodorkovsky’s reputation of questionable business dealings, Misamore felt that he was sincere in his passion for Yukos.  Yukos’ role as a model for Russian businesses in the global marketplace. It became the first Russian company to publish quarterly financial statements that adhered to the U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. Yukos became Russia's largest oil and gas company and the only large Russian company with no state ownership. They were the fastest growing oil company in the world by rate of both percentage and actual production, and the best performing international equity, both in emerging markets as well as the oil and gas markets.
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    14 mins
  • Episode 2: The Arrest

    Episode 2: The Arrest
    Jun 8 2022
    In the early 2000s, Bruce Misamore moved to Moscow to work for Mikhail Khodorkovsky at Yukos. Yukos was growing rapidly, but Russian President Vladimir Putin wasn’t pleased with the growing influence of Westerners at Russian companies. Putin saw threats to his power everywhere, and the government passed legislation limiting foreign investment. Misamore found himself in the middle of a hurricane. Join Loren Steffy and Bruce Misamore for the second episode of Putin’s Oil Heist.   Learn About:   How Putin ousted Yeltsin supporters from their positions in a return to a less democratic Russia. The speed of growth Yukos experienced, and how the owners and investors in the company began to think about diversifying economically and geographically. The company wanted to expand, and the fastest way to grow an oil company is to buy or merge with others. The drawbacks in merging with another Russian oil company. Bruce talks about the challenges in making representations to the New York Stock Exchange, and how he believed it would be impossible to provide the necessary transparency if Yukos acquired another Russian company. The straw that broke the camel’s back when it came to Khodorkovsky and Putin's relationship. The Americanization of Yukos had gone too far. What it was like for the employees at Yukos when Khodorkovsky was arrested—and what it meant for Russia’s economic future.
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    17 mins

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