Exxon

The coal middleman who turned $2M into ~$500M

Shaan's summer-job boss, the 'King of Coal' in Indonesia, bribed local politicians for land rights, then flipped the coal to majors like Exxon. He bought coal for $2 million and resold it in $20 million blocks, totaling $400-500 million, because oil majors couldn't legally bribe foreign officials themselves.

“He's like, well, I bought all this coal for $2 million, and then we, like, I bought all the coal for $2 million, and then we sell it in blocks for $20 million each. I'm like, well, that's like $400, $500 million. How are we going to, we're turning $2 million into $500 million? And he's like, yeah.”