How SpaceX got caught in the middle of a $500 million oil dispute in Central Asia
The dispute begins in Kazakhstan, drifts to Sweden, and eventually arrives on America’s shores, but our story starts in Moldova. In leaked cables from 2009, a US diplomat described Stati’s family as one of the wealthiest in Moldova, with connections to—and rivalries with—the region’s rough-and-tumble political elite. The Moldovan elections that year were contentious to say the least: Gabriel Stati, Anatolie’s son, was arrested in Ukraine at the request of the Moldovan government for allegedly plotting a coup; the charges were eventually dropped.
