SAD OLIGARCH

Sad Oligarch is a modern true crime style investigative podcast series that looks into the many Russian oligarch deaths of 2022, unravelling a dark tale of Kremlin corruption and Russian political influence across the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On March 23rd 2022, affluent Russian businessman Vasily Melnikov was found dead alongside his family in their upscale Moscow apartment. They’d all been stabbed to death: Vasily, his wife, and their two sons aged 4 and 10 years old. The killings were brutal and tragic. In the crime scene photos one of the murder weapons can be seen. It's a Russian Special Forces combat knife...  In this episode we investigate the Melnikov family annihilation. Did Vasily kill his whole family as the Russian police claim, or is something else going on? You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today! http://apple.co/coolerzoneSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One day after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a Russian Gazprom executive hanged himself in the garage of his villa in the affluent village of Leninskoye. As police started to investigate the scene, security from Gazprom arrived and pushed them out. This was the second Gazprom executive suicide in as many months in the same village. Was work at Gazprom really that stressful, or did someone punish these wealthy higher-ups? You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today! http://apple.co/coolerzoneSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In May 2022 a Russian billionaire engaged in a shamanic ritual in a bid to help cure his hangover and spiralling alcoholism. During the ritual, frog venom was injected into his blood stream. He soon died of a heart attack. Was this a case of misadventure, or did his Kremlin linked oil company have something to do with his demise? You can now listen to all Cool Zone Media shows, 100% ad-free through the Cooler Zone Media subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. So, open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “Cooler Zone Media” and subscribe today! http://apple.co/coolerzoneSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On April 19th 2022, a Russian tycoon was found hanging from a railing inside his Spanish holiday villa. His wife and daughter were also found dead. They’d been hacked to death with an axe. The Spanish police ruled the incident a murder-suicide, but the businessman's adult son, who wasn't there, thinks otherwise. He believes someone else murdered his whole family. He might be right.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Gazprom linked businessman Yury Voronov took a break at his cottage mansion, a gunman snuck through the trees and broke into his home. Voronov was shot at several times before a bullet struck him in the head. He was found floating in his swimming pool. So why was this death presented as a possible suicide in the Russian media? And how was Voronov killed with a gun that doesn’t fire live rounds?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In September 2022 the former head of the Moscow Aviation Institute fell down some stairs at work and died instantly. Why is this suspicious? To clarify that we have to ask two questions… How does the head of a scientific research institute amass great wealth on a normal salary? What was his role within the Ukraine war?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A checkup at the hospital seems an unlikely place for a suicide, but when a multil-million dollar Russian oil magnate had to get his heart checked, that's exactly what happened. A man worth half a billion dollars, with awards from Putin himself, decided to jump from a sixth storey window without leaving a note. Russian state media said he was depressed. His family say he wasn't. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does a Latvian-born nightclub owner have to do with you Russian oil and gas, Mitt Romney, and Donald Trump? More than you’d expect… Sadly we can’t ask him directly, as the man in question fell out the window of his luxury apartment in Washington, DC last year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In part two of our look into the bizarre circumstances surrounding the death of Latvian born Russian-American businessman Dan Rapoport, we expose his alter-ego. The fake Pentagon analyst Rapoport pretended to be caused so much trouble the Kremlin itself reported on it. Is this linked to Rapoprt’s death?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the conclusion to the Dan Rapoport subplot, we discover how a Russian gossip blogger managed to break the story of his death and why a DC Freemason lodge is affiliated with his alter-ego. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the penultimate episode of the series, Jake and Sergiy discuss the many mysterious Russian billionaire and millionaire deaths that have occurred since Sad Oligarch launched just three months ago. Several dark patterns emerge. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In what will be a two-part final episode of Sad Oligarch, we take a deep dive into the violent life and violent death of Yevgeny Prigozhin—an oligarch, a war criminal, and the head of Kremlin backed private military contractor firm "PMC Wagner". This was a man with many enemies, but who shot him out of the sky? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the finale of Sad Oligarch we look into the final weeks of Prigozhin's life and explain how his violent death casts the mysterious deaths we've looked into in a new light. We also take a more direct approach in explaining what we think is going on...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.