Financial Forensics: Autopsy Files

Mozambique Tuna Bonds 2016 : The Business Plan Said $200M Revenue. Debt Service Was $260M. The Bond Was Oversubscribed — EP64 T1

19 min · 23 de may de 2026
Portada del episodio Mozambique Tuna Bonds 2016 : The Business Plan Said $200M Revenue. Debt Service Was $260M. The Bond Was Oversubscribed — EP64 T1

Descripción

🔴 FFL Case Library is Live 80 forensic cases · 3 offline tools · zero cloudRun your deals against the pattern database before you sign.Launch price $79 → $99 after EP100 release.[⁠⁠https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc⁠⁠ [https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc]] In September 2013, Credit Suisse raised $500 million for a tuna fishing company in Mozambique called Ematum — incorporated weeks earlier, with no vessels, no catch history, and no operating revenue. The government guarantee was signed by Finance Minister Manuel Chang without parliamentary approval. The IMF did not know it existed. Fourteen donor countries funding a quarter of Mozambique's national budget did not know it existed. And the offering circular described $200 million in projected annual revenues against debt service requirements of $260 million. The bond was oversubscribed. By 2016, Mozambique had accumulated $2.2 billion in secret sovereign debt — equivalent to 12.5% of GDP — through three state-owned entities that had never been disclosed to parliament, the IMF, or any bilateral donor. The Kroll forensic audit found $500 million in loan proceeds that could not be accounted for. Kickbacks to Credit Suisse employees and Mozambican officials exceeded $200 million, embedded in the transaction fee structure from the first disbursement. This is the financial autopsy of the Mozambique Tuna Bonds — the hidden sovereign guarantee mechanism that converted a country's maritime security budget into a $2.2 billion concealed debt obligation, with Credit Suisse as active architect rather than passive intermediary. We dissect the full structure: the three state-owned entities (Ematum, Proindicus, MAM), the Privinvest contractor relationship, the Chang guarantee and its constitutional invalidity under Mozambican law, the kickback chain from Privinvest to Andrew Pearse to Surjan Singh, and the April 2016 disclosure that triggered simultaneous IMF program suspension, bilateral donor cutoff, sovereign downgrade, and metical collapse. We cover the criminal convictions of Pearse, Singh, and Subeva, the $475M Credit Suisse settlement, Finance Minister Chang's extradition and trial, and the accountability gap: the tuna fleet never generated meaningful revenue, the three companies remain largely inactive, and Mozambique — ranked 181st of 189 on the UN Human Development Index at the time — is still negotiating its debt restructuring. If you cover EM sovereign credit, allocate to sub-Saharan Africa, or conduct due diligence on sovereign-guaranteed instruments in frontier markets, this is the episode that establishes the hidden sovereign debt due diligence framework. Financial Forensics Labs — Every collapse has a pattern. We dissect it. Layer by layer. KEYWORDS Mozambique tuna bonds fraud, Ematum bond Credit Suisse, hidden sovereign debt Africa, Chang guarantee Mozambique, Credit Suisse Mozambique conviction, Andrew Pearse Credit Suisse kickback, Privinvest Mozambique fraud, sovereign guarantee fraud frontier markets, IMF program suspension Mozambique, $2.2 billion hidden debt Mozambique, Mozambique default 2017, tuna bonds Proindicus MAM, constitutional guarantee fraud Africa, sovereign debt concealment mechanism, EM sovereign credit fraud signal

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158 episodios

Portada del episodio Terraform Luna 2022 : Yield Sustainability vs Mechanism Analysis │ GP/LP Analysis — 3 Red Flags│EP79 T2

Terraform Luna 2022 : Yield Sustainability vs Mechanism Analysis │ GP/LP Analysis — 3 Red Flags│EP79 T2

🔴 FFL Case Library is Live 80 forensic cases · 3 offline tools · zero cloudRun your deals against the pattern database before you sign.Launch price $79 → $99 after EP100 release. All Info is in the Link [⁠⁠https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc⁠⁠ [https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc]] Yield analysis and mechanism analysis are different frameworks. Terraform showed why both are required when evaluating DeFi protocols. This episode delivers the institutional due diligence lens: yield sustainability calculation, LUNA market cap to UST supply ratio, and prior depeg resolution transparency. Three red flags that were calculable on-chain and in public statements before May 2022. Critical framework for any fund with exposure to algorithmic stablecoins, DeFi yield products, or tokenized assets. Financial Forensics Labs — Every collapse has a pattern. We dissect it. Layer by layer. KEYWORDS Terraform GP LP analysis, algorithmic stablecoin due diligence, yield sustainability red flags, UST LUNA death spiral mechanism, Anchor Protocol subsidy analysis, DeFi protocol risk framework

31 de may de 202616 min
Portada del episodio Terraform Luna 2022 : $40 Billion Destroyed in 72 Hours by an Algorithm Doing Exactly What It Was Designed To Do — EP79 T1

Terraform Luna 2022 : $40 Billion Destroyed in 72 Hours by an Algorithm Doing Exactly What It Was Designed To Do — EP79 T1

🔴 FFL Case Library is Live 80 forensic cases · 3 offline tools · zero cloudRun your deals against the pattern database before you sign.Launch price $79 → $99 after EP100 release. All Info is in the Link [⁠⁠https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc⁠⁠ [https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc]] The death spiral was not a bug. It was the algorithm working as intended once selling pressure began. UST, the algorithmic stablecoin backed by nothing but its reflexive relationship with LUNA, collapsed from $18.7 billion market cap to near zero in three days in May 2022, destroying approximately $40 billion. Do Kwon, its architect, was later sentenced to 15 years in U.S. federal prison. This is the financial autopsy of Terraform Labs — the subsidized yield + reflexive tokenomics mechanism that made collapse mathematically inevitable once confidence cracked. We dissect Anchor Protocol’s 20% yield (funded by Terraform’s own reserves), the 2021 secret bailout by Jump Crypto, and the death spiral mechanics that no reserve could stop. Quick note before we start — the FFL Case Library is live. Eighty forensic cases, three tools, runs offline. This is Episode 80. Today we close the first library. Link in the show notes. Financial Forensics Labs — Every collapse has a pattern. We dissect it. Layer by layer. KEYWORDS Terraform Luna collapse, UST death spiral, Do Kwon 15 years prison, Anchor Protocol 20% yield fraud, algorithmic stablecoin failure, Luna Foundation Guard Bitcoin

31 de may de 202616 min
Portada del episodio Binance 2023 : Compliance Documentation vs Compliance Program │ GP/LP Analysis - 3 Red Flags│EP78 T2

Binance 2023 : Compliance Documentation vs Compliance Program │ GP/LP Analysis - 3 Red Flags│EP78 T2

🔴 FFL Case Library is Live 80 forensic cases · 3 offline tools · zero cloudRun your deals against the pattern database before you sign.Launch price $79 → $99 after EP100 release. All Info is in the Link [⁠⁠https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc⁠⁠ [https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc]] Compliance documentation and a functioning compliance program are not the same thing. Binance maintained extensive policies while producing almost none of the required enforcement outputs — a gap documented in unprecedented detail by the FinCEN consent order. This GP/LP technical episode provides the institutional framework for evaluating crypto infrastructure counterparties: the difference between policies and outputs, the absence of consolidated supervision as a structural red flag, and blockchain analytics as mandatory due diligence. We extract three concrete signals that were visible before the 2023 settlement and the post-settlement requirements any allocator should now apply. For any fund, bank, or institution with exposure to crypto trading, custody, or infrastructure platforms. Financial Forensics Labs — Every collapse has a pattern. We dissect it. Layer by layer. KEYWORDS Binance GP LP analysis, compliance documentation vs program, FinCEN Binance red flags, crypto infrastructure due diligence, consolidated regulator requirement, blockchain analytics counterparty risk, jurisdictional nomadism institutional risk

Ayer17 min
Portada del episodio Binance 2023 : The Largest Crypto Exchange Pleaded Guilty, Paid $4.3 Billion, and Kept Dominating the Market — EP78 T1

Binance 2023 : The Largest Crypto Exchange Pleaded Guilty, Paid $4.3 Billion, and Kept Dominating the Market — EP78 T1

🔴 FFL Case Library is Live 80 forensic cases · 3 offline tools · zero cloudRun your deals against the pattern database before you sign.Launch price $79 → $99 after EP100 release. All Info is in the Link [⁠⁠https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc⁠⁠ [https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc]] Changpeng Zhao (CZ) built the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange without a headquarters and with no consolidated regulator. The strategy worked brilliantly until it didn’t. In November 2023 Binance pleaded guilty to Bank Secrecy Act violations, sanctions breaches, and operating an unregistered money transmitting business. The settlement: $4.3 billion — the largest in U.S. Treasury history. CZ served four months in prison and later received a presidential pardon. The exchange continued as the dominant platform. This is the financial autopsy of Binance — and the jurisdictional nomadism + compliance theater mechanism that allowed one institution to process trillions while systematically undermining its own AML and sanctions policies. We dissect the internal communications, the FinCEN consent order’s 92 pages of factual findings, the sham separation with Binance.US, and how “compliance documentation” replaced actual compliance program execution. Quick note before we start — the FFL Case Library is live. Eighty forensic cases, three tools, runs offline. This is Episode 80. Today we close the first library. Link in the show notes. Financial Forensics Labs — Every collapse has a pattern. We dissect it. Layer by layer. KEYWORDS Binance CZ guilty plea, Binance $4.3 billion settlement, jurisdictional nomadism crypto, Binance compliance theater, FinCEN consent order Binance, Binance AML failure, crypto exchange regulatory arbitrage, CZ Binance enforcement

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Portada del episodio SoftBank Vision Fund 2017 : Self-Referential Valuation & Capital Concentration Risk │ GP/LP Analysis - 3 Red Flags │ EP77 T2

SoftBank Vision Fund 2017 : Self-Referential Valuation & Capital Concentration Risk │ GP/LP Analysis - 3 Red Flags │ EP77 T2

🔴 FFL Case Library is Live 80 forensic cases · 3 offline tools · zero cloudRun your deals against the pattern database before you sign.Launch price $79 → $99 after EP100 release. All Info is in the Link [⁠⁠https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc⁠⁠ [https://sergiostieben.gumroad.com/l/wqyicc]] .A portfolio mark based on the last round price is only as good as the independence of that round. When the same fund leads the round, sets the price, and then marks its own position to that price, the reported performance is largely a record of its own deployment activity rather than independent market value. This GP/LP technical episode dissects the self-referential valuation mechanism of the SoftBank Vision Fund in full institutional detail: how $100 billion of concentrated capital made independent price discovery structurally impossible in its target markets, the accounting convention that treated its own transaction prices as fair value, and the governance incentives created by the preferred/ordinary equity split. We identify three institutional-grade red flags visible before first close: (1) round leadership concentration and minimum check size relative to typical venture rounds, (2) preferred equity structure that insulated major LPs while concentrating upside/downside on the GP/ordinary holders, and (3) portfolio theme overlap across direct competitors in the same sectors. We analyze the performance distortion this created and the institutional lessons for any LP evaluating large growth equity vehicles today. For GPs, LPs, PE operating partners, and institutional allocators in private technology and growth equity. Financial Forensics Labs — Every collapse has a pattern. We dissect it. Layer by layer. KEYWORDs SoftBank Vision Fund GP LP analysis, self-referential valuation red flags, capital concentration private equity, round leadership concentration risk, preferred equity governance, portfolio overlap risk, Vision Fund due diligence framework, large fund valuation methodology, private market mark independence, SoftBank Vision Fund institutional lessons

Ayer14 min