In Spain, there is a custom of playing pranks—jokes ranging from mildly amusing to teasing—on December 28th. This tradition extends to the media, which often concocts an unbelievable story for the occasion (do you recall the “shrinking penis syndrome” among Japanese men, a story that still occasionally resurfaces?), much like the pranks played on April 1st in other countries.
In the early days of Mundoclasico.com, we too used to invent a prank for the day, but quite a few years ago we set ourselves a greater challenge: to publish one or more stories on that date that were genuine yet appeared fake. This required us to spend over a month beforehand hunting for a story bizarre or ridiculous enough to pass for a hoax. However, in some years, our search proved fruitless, and we were unable to publish anything of interest for the day.
Since December 28th is still a long way off, I do not think it is worth holding back the news that has recently come to light.
Russian composer Igor Raykhelson (Leningrad, 1961)—described as an “internationally renowned classical composer” thanks to several popular works, particularly those dedicated to violist Yuri Bashmet [see Wikipedia]—has become embroiled in a scam (currently alleged) that may have netted him over $100 million.
Without abandoning composition—at least officially—Raykhelson became the director of a Swiss company, Interlink Metals and Chemicals. Among other activities, the firm purchased titanium shavings from a Russian company, transported them to Switzerland and Estonia, reclassified them as “titanium alloy” (without any processing other than altering the paperwork), and resold them to Russia. This situation is further complicated by the boycott on any trade involving products that could be used by the Russian military for war materiel.
According to media reports, Raykhelson “transferred millions of dollars in stolen and liquidated assets—via sophisticated shell companies—from Europe to Bahrain and then to the United States in order to launder stolen money, conceal the origin of the adulterated titanium, and evade U.S. tariffs.” Furthermore, he “secretly orchestrated a brazen, long-running international financial scheme that siphoned nearly $100 million from the Russian titanium corporation VSMPO, using a network of family-controlled shell companies to funnel illicit funds through European banks, Swiss intermediaries, and the Kingdom of Bahrain, ultimately into the U.S. financial system.”
With legal proceedings pending in the US and Russia—and while investigations continue to unravel the various schemes behind these commercial operations, in which other family members were involved—Raykhelson can justifiably still be considered a great composer, or at the very least “a great orchestrator.” After all, you don’t make 100 million dollars that easily from composing…
By Mundo Clasico – https://www.mundoclasico.com/articulo/48142/famoso-compositor-y-estafador
