During the past year or two, a group of people calling themselves Karību Fondi gained popularity among Latvians. The group itself consists of multiple people, with the most notable names being Valdis Spurķis, Kaspars Kazanovskis, and Rolands Milllers. What sets Karību Fondi apart is that they openly state that their main goal is to embody corruption and evade taxes.
Now one may ask: “How could someone blabbering foolishness of this sort attain any kind of fans or popularity?” Well, perhaps it was because they were not just some crazy guys on crack one encounters on Latvian TikTok lives; rather, they were, or at least appeared to be, genuine businessmen earning serious cash. They flaunted their extravagant lifestyles on both Telegram and TikTok, driving luxury cars such as Bentley, Lamborghini, Mercedes, and even a Bugatti, shopping at high-end stores like Fendi, and going on lavish holidays. Most notably, they explained their luxury spending with a simple phrase: “We are paying the good life tax.” All this certainly stirred up a mystery about how successful men could boast that everyone who pays taxes to the Latvian government is dumb.
Surprisingly, they aren’t just all talk, as most people on social media tend to be. One publicly known example of their schemes is how they avoid any kind of parking or speeding tickets in Latvia. They achieve this by simply registering their cars to a Lithuanian or Estonian company, making it extremely difficult for the Latvian government to track down who should be charged for the ticket. Even when the government somehow managed to track down that K. Kazanovskis was responsible for a ticket and made him appear in court, the tickets were dismissed, allowing him to walk away without spending a dime.
Not only did their schemes catch people’s attention, but their unique connections with well-known individuals also contributed to their mysterious rise in popularity. They posted videos with the Latvian “Tesla guy,” a.k.a. Raiders Raitis, riding in his new Tesla Plaid model. Moreover, they shared videos with Thomas Kralow in Dubai, cruising in his new Bugatti.
These two examples alone added to the intrigue surrounding Karību Fondi and the people they associated with—raising questions such as: Is Raiders Raitis evading taxes? Does Kralow participate in shady business deals? And so on.
Notably, Thomas himself has a rather shady past. He has been reluctant to share details about it, and when he does, the story often differs slightly from previous versions. This only strengthens the belief that Karību Fondi might indeed be involved in questionable tax evasion practices.
The abovementioned factors undoubtedly contributed to Karību Fondi’s rise in popularity, helping them amass over 4,000 Telegram subscribers. This was likely their goal all along—gaining attention by posting such outrageous content online.
However, after all that talk on social media, their words and actions eventually caught up with them. At the end of November, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) issued an arrest warrant for 32 people in the Baltics connected to a €297 million VAT fraud network. And guess who was among the people arrested? None other than proud members of Karību Fondi- Kaspars Kazanovskis and Valdis Spurķis.
To put it simply, these 32 individuals set up multiple companies in different countries to act as legal entities for electronics. These companies were linked to offshore accounts, so when a customer purchased a product and paid VAT, the money would flow through various shell companies, ultimately ending up in an offshore bank account, where the company itself did not have to pay the VAT.
Their climb to stardom was swift, but their plunge into consequences was even faster. In the end, it seems they actually preached what they practiced; and were criminals seeking attention, as money no longer fed their egos.
– Roberts Kamols