Dark
Matters
How an alliance
of the Mafia & ex-KGB
infiltrates our elites
to commit billion-dollar crimes
The new Mafia
Just before the collapse of the GDR, Soviet intelligence kicked off a covert operation called “Sunbeam.”
Their mission: to recruit low- and mid-level Stasi agents—people who flew under the radar—to carry out a mission in reunified Germany.
They were equipped with hundreds of millions of Deutsche Marks held in secret numbered accounts of the Stasi and the SED; with kompromat from the secret files of the Ministry for State Security; and with traditional ties to organized crime—an integral part of the Eastern intelligence services' DNA.
In the decades since 1989, this secret task force of Stasi and KGB has evolved into a new and particularly efficient form of criminal network. They operate for personal enrichment—and for geopolitical objectives. Many of the major economic crimes of recent decades can be traced back to these hybrid actors.
Their modus operandi is conspirational. They stay in the shadows, using outsiders to carry out their operations. Moreover, they manage to neutralize decision-makers in regulatory authorities, tax offices, the judiciary, and auditing firms long enough to secure the profits from their crimes.
This is the working hypothesis behind DARK MATTERS.
Mission
The three seasons of DARK MATTERS explain the methodology of invisible crime, trace its historical origins, and present evidence suggesting that some of the largest heists of recent decades are part of a broader, strategic pattern.
A lecture in perfect crime
The first season tells the story of planning and executing a large-scale financial crime – narrated from the perpetrator’s perspective: "How to rob 100 million – and get away with it."
While fictionalized, the story is so precise and realistic that it can be seen as a primer in organized financial crime. The season demonstrates that stealth crimes are not only possible – but highly probable. And therefore already part of our reality.
The collapse of 1989
The second season uncovers the decades-long collaboration between state agencies and criminals in the Eastern block,
fostered by Moscow and East Berlin to circumvent Western trade embargoes.It explores the environment where gangsters and spies merged, the preparations intelligence agencies made for the post-Soviet era, and the strategic joint ventures formed between mobsters and spies after 1989.
X-RAY of landmark crimes
The third season applies the knowledge gained to some of the most spectacular white-collar crimes of our time.
It becomes clear that many major financial scandals show the distinct fingerprints of this new kind of organized crime.
The cumulative economic and societal damage in Western societies suggests that white-collar crime has become a geopolitical weapon in international power struggles.
About the author
DARK MATTERS is produced by Matthias Woestmann, journalist and entrepreneur.
He was a whistleblower in the 100-million-dollar scandal surrounding the crypto company Envion and developed this podcast based on his personal experience.
In the 1990s, he had served as a foreign correspondent for ARD, Germany's public broadcasting service, in South Asia and was head of the ARD Studio in New Delhi.
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