Crypto and Caviar: The Empire behind Footballing Giant Slayer ‘Sheriff’

Indeed, Viktor Gushan and Ylia Kazmalii have come to dominate the economy of Transnistria - the pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova where Sheriff is based - since it threw off rule from Chisinau in months of fighting in 1992 following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Sheriff Tiraspol is merely the shiny, soft-power part of a 'Sheriff' business empire with interests in caviar, cars, fuel, medicine, vodka, hotel services, telecommunications, banking, insurance, real estate and media.

Today, Sheriff the company is the biggest private contributor to the Transnistrian budget, but its rise has not been without controversy.

Rapid expansion

A sliver of land, Transnistria is about 400 kilometres long and less than 20 kilometres wide. It considers itself a state, but is unrecognised outside its borders, even by Russia, which has troops on its territory.

Transnistria used to be the crown jewel of the Moldovan economy. Since the war, Gushan, 58, and Kazmaly, 59, have come to control most of it.

A Sheriff supermarket in Tiraspol, the main city in the breakaway region of Transnistria. Photo: BIRN/Madalin Necsutu

It all began in June 1993, when Gushan and Kazmaly - who both hold Moldovan, Ukrainian and Russian citizenship - founded their first company, Sheriff.

Four years later, they took control of Agroprombank, the rebel region's biggest bank, and in 1998 they founded Interdnestrcom, the sole telecommunications operator in Transnistria and which began with capital of $1.6 million.

In 2002, Sheriff snapped up the Bender Starch Plant in 2002 and the Cereal Plant and the Bakery, both in Tiraspol, in 2005. Next came the Tirotex textile factory, followed in 2006 by Kvint, the largest...