Moldovan oligarch Plahotniuc sentenced to 19 years for 'theft of the century'

A Moldovan court sentenced oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc to 19 years in prison for fraud in connection with the disappearance of one billion dollars from the country's banking system. The court also froze 60 million dollars worth of Plahotniuc's assets as part of the ruling. The case involves what has been dubbed the 'theft of the century' in Moldova, referring to the massive financial scandal that saw approximately one billion dollars vanish from three Moldovan banks between 2012 and 2014. The missing funds represented roughly one-eighth of Moldova's entire GDP at the time, making it one of the largest bank frauds relative to country size in modern history.