In 2008, the British High Court issued a very special arrest warrant: the arrest of Jeffrey Bourkia, the Prince of Brunei who was in exile in the United Kingdom.
The crime is suspected of leading and participating in more than 30 accusations of international "money laundering" and "embezzlement".
This was the first and only time in modern British history that a foreign dignitary was sued.
There are countless rumors about this mysterious prince internationally: 600 mansions, 40 "harem beauties", daily consumption of 5 million US dollars...
Miraculously, after a long trial, Jeffrey not only left the UK safely, but also reached an agreement with the US federal government in 2019: pay $250 million in "compensation", exempting from personal punishment.
After that, Jeffrey became a "legend", and no news about him came out, as if the world had disappeared.
How did all this happen?
1. "The son of the Sultan, noble in his blood"
Brunei is an Islamic country with many members of the royal family, and the sons of the chief sultan, that is, the successors, are very numerous.
Born in 1956, Jeffrey was the third son of the then Sultan of Brunei and ranked very high among his heirs.
When Jeffrey was very young, his parents often taught him: "The son of the sultan, there is nobility in his blood." "This has allowed him to develop a pampered personality from an early age.
In his life, as long as it is what he wants, he can get it with his mouth.
But Jeffrey is not stupid, he knows that all the privileges he has are because of the status of an "heir". If he grows up and lets others take away the position of "heir", I am afraid that he will lose all this.
Therefore, he was very good at expressing himself, and as soon as he started studying, he asked his parents: "I should go to a better school and receive a better education." ”
The parents were naturally very moved and sent Jeffrey to study at an aristocratic high school in London, England.
Apparently Jeffrey's mind wasn't on learning. After he came to England, he had no family discipline, often skipped school, and developed a luxurious lifestyle. Jewelry, beautiful women, famous cars, soon became part of his life.
He soon met a group of "companions", all from powerful families from all over the world. They often save up top-notch parties and gatherings, invite the character's call girls to entertain VIPs, and get drunk.
He slowly felt that even as a gentleman, it seemed good to squander his life like this.
But what happened at this time deeply shook his determination as the "second ancestor".
His father, the previous Sudan, died of illness in 1967, not naturally.
The father died on the verge of being overthrown because he was accused of embezzlement. Jeffrey saw firsthand how those who had sworn allegiance to their father turned against the water when he was old and weak.
Not to mention, this also includes many of his elders.
He realized that only by being born into the royal family, and holding power tightly in his hands, could he be entitled to enjoy privileges alive.
Fortunately, after his father's death, his brother, Hajir Burkia, who had a good relationship with him, was identified as the first in line to the throne, and Jeffrey's many privileges were continued.
Since then, on the road of Jeffrey's "squandering", he began to grow his mind: every expense, every enjoyment, must be used to "strengthen" his power.
So he began to organize banquets more intensively, inviting the children of famous businessmen and dignitaries to participate, so that a wave of "Jeffrey's Banquet" arose in the school.
Everyone knows that as long as a classmate has a prominent family lineage, Jeffrey will generously "pay" for each participant, and let each other "bond" and become partners in the social arena.
At that time, Jeffrey's expenses were very large, and his family warned many times: "Even as a member of the royal family, you should not consume like this, you should check your behavior!" ”
Jeffrey still goes his own way, because he always confirms that he is "investing" rather than simply "consuming".
2. "Jeffrey can go to different estates in one week and enjoy the services of waitresses from different countries"
In 1982, Jeffrey's brother Hajar officially succeeded to the throne as Sultan of Brunei, and Jeffrey became prince, and he naturally returned to Brunei and found his brother and asked: "Give me a position, I can protect the interests of the family." ”。
Although Hajar doted on this younger brother, he had heard about his profligacy and did not dare to entrust him with heavy responsibilities, but only made him a manager at the national oil company, and told him: "You can continue to live the life you want." ”
This Brunei National Oil Company is indeed the economic lifeblood of the country. Brunei's oil resources are very rich, and Brunei's population is only 430,000 people, per capita oil resources are no less than the major oil-producing countries in the Middle East, Brunei's per capita GDP once ranked 6th in the world.
Jeffrey was certainly dissatisfied with the position of "manager", and in his opinion, brother Hajir just wanted to "trap" himself with a high-paying position, so as not to make any mess himself.
But he didn't complain too much, just calmly accepted the post. Because he knows that even if he is born in the royal family and born as a prince, he also needs to rely on strength to ascend to power.
It is impossible to win by lying down, it is not advisable to lie flat.
Jeffrey quickly found his own "rhythm". He began to actively invite the company's management and government officials with more contacts to the banquet.
The content of the banquet is still the "old three": fine wine, beauty, famous brand, simple and effective. After all, most of them are members of the royal family, childhood playmates, and his own brother's subordinates, who can refuse a prince's generous gift?
Hajar saw that Jeffrey was so active, instead of feeling that there was a problem, he actively created opportunities for him, often attending Jeffrey's "banquets" in a private capacity, sometimes all night, sometimes for a few minutes, no matter how long or short, he always tried to participate.
Therefore, a phrase quickly circulated in Brunei's Vanity Fair: "To get close to the power of Brunei, you must first get Hajar's consent; To get Hajar's approval, you must first get an invitation from Jeffrey. ”
Indeed, with Harjill's help, Jeffrey expanded his business from oil to hotels, aviation, real estate and more.
Jeffrey set up his own investment company, the actual controllers are Hajar and Jeffrey's brothers, and expanded the business territory from Brunei to Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian regions.
In just a few years, Jeffrey can be said to have "brought together" Brunei's political and business circles and radiated his influence to the entire Southeast Asia.
By 1987, Hajar saw that Jeffrey had matured, so he promoted him to chancellor of the exchequer, and was also in charge of domestic business affairs, and then handed over the important posts of prime minister and defense secretary to Jeffrey, and even the only university in the country was appointed as the president, and Hajar himself was mainly the "front" head of state.
For a while, Jeffrey became a character "above ten thousand people under one person".
So Jeffrey spared no effort to hold his own "banquet" and make many amazing moves.
His first step was to expand his "harem". Brunei is an Islamic country that supports polygamy, and a man can marry up to four wives.
As king, Hajar married a queen and two princesses, while Jeffrey was "a group of wives and concubines".
In his early 20s, Jeffrey married four wives. After he got married, he often complained to others at banquets: "My family is huge, but my love has nowhere to be placed." ”
As long as he saw beautiful women, Jeffrey coerced and lured them into his "harem group".
Some socialites were not interested in Jeffrey, but in the name of the state, he invited women and entertained them with the king's plane and state banquets, so that women's vanity was greatly satisfied.
In order to give his harem group a place to stay, Jeffrey vigorously built the so-called "palace" and played the trick of Kanaya Zangjiao.
He has more than 600 mansions around the world, each beautifully decorated and luxurious.
Some of these villas can accommodate up to 100 people, and some have private pools, indoor theaters, golf courses and other facilities.
The largest of these mansions is in the heart of Bandar Seri Begawan, the capital of the Kingdom of Brunei.
Spanning 80,000 square feet, its magnificent interiors include marble floors, gold-studded faucets, and ornate crystal lamps on the ceiling.
In the largest mansion, more than 40 women serve him, preparing meals, massages, sexual services and so on every day.
He even bought a sex club called the Playboy Club, where he could enjoy alcohol, contraband and sexual pleasure.
Jeffrey also ordered a private Boeing 747 for himself.
The plane has been specially modified to include luxurious bedrooms, restaurants, gymnasiums and spa facilities, just like a mobile luxury hotel.
According to an interview with his servant: "Jeffrey could go to different estates in a week, in the company of waiters from different countries, and indulge in good food, as well as ornate candlelit dinners, surrounded by beautiful maids with drinks and soft music." ”
His living expenses even reached $5 million a day, an astronomical amount that many people can't reach in their lifetimes.
This also earned him a nickname in the rich circle: "The King of Brunei's Rich".
However, all this wealth, revelry, and psychedelia all come to naught when a storm hits, and deeper sins surface.
Third, under the aura of the rich, there is always the shadow of corruption
At the end of the 20th century, the Asian financial turmoil broke out, and countries throughout Southeast Asia faced serious financial disasters, and many governments even faced bankruptcy, and Brunei was no exception.
At this critical time, Jeffrey, as prime minister, suddenly announced: resigned as prime minister. Before everyone could react, Jeffrey took the next step: went into exile in Britain and applied for "political asylum."
The whole world was stunned: everyone knew that Jeffrey made a lot of money, but they did not expect that he had squandered so much money through "fraud" and "greed".
He was accused of bribing in a share deal at a state-owned oil company and receiving tens of millions of dollars in kickbacks from it;
He used the power of his chancellor of the exchequer to falsely "disguise" more than a dozen listed companies and defraud investors of investment funds; and using his connections in the government to occupy a large number of real estate and real estate.
Of course, some of the assets flowed into King Hajar's account, but a large amount of the money was stolen by Jeffrey, and many of the business came from Jeffrey's early connections.
In order to deal with the mess left by Jeffrey, King Hajar had to sell his assets to the people, and actually cleared out the auction items of 21 goods warehouses, and the entire catalog of goods was as high as 60 pages.
These include 150 Rolls-Royce cars, luxury yachts and private jet aircraft. Due to the large number of goods on sale, large items include Airbus aircraft.
The auction company said: "We have never received such a complex auction business, and if you look at high-value items, this should be the largest auction in the world to date." ”
But Jeffrey did not escape trial. In 2006, British officials opened an investigation into Jeffrey, accusing him of corruption and money laundering.
The survey brought the world's attention to the incident, which greatly affected Jeffrey's image. He made a special appearance in the media to clarify: "There are many false accusations and false accusations here, and I am just following the orders of others." ”
As the investigation deepened, more and more charges were "dug up", and finally he was arrested in 2008, the British Privy Council charged him with embezzlement of about $16 billion, and sentenced Jeffrey to hand over $6 billion worth of assets to his brother.
Interestingly, apart from property penalties, Jeffrey was not subject to any personal sentences. After being sentenced by the British, he was inexplicably "extradited" to the United States for trial.
Because the case implicated many of the world's dignitaries, Jeffrey was sentenced to 13 years in prison until 2019 and returned $160 million in illegal gains.
When Jeffrey was charged with corruption in the United States, he had a heated conversation with prosecutors.
"Have you ever thought that all this money you spent could have been used to help others?" The prosecutor asked.
Jeffrey scoffed and replied, "Those people don't deserve my money to help." ”
"Are you talking about the poor?" The prosecutor asked.
"Yes," Jeffrey said, "they are worthless and dependent on social welfare." ”
"Are you talking about people who are deprived of resources and opportunities because of your corruption?" The prosecutor continued to ask.
Jeffrey's face sank, he was silent for a moment, and finally admitted his mistake.
During the British investigation, Sarah, one of Jeffrey's lovers, was also interviewed. She described her relationship with Jeffrey and her views on his corrupt practices.
"He used to be a very generous person," Sarah recalls, "but over time he became more and more selfish." He was spending more and more money, and I began to wonder where he got the money from. ”
"I was shocked and disappointed when I learned he was accused of embezzlement," Sarah continued, "I used to love him, but now I can only feel anger and sadness. ”
After his sentence, Jeffrey's attitude also changed dramatically. He began to realize his mistakes and expressed a willingness to take responsibility for his actions.
"I admit that I have done a lot of things wrong, and my family and I sincerely apologize to everyone," Jeffrey said, "but I hope to make amends for my mistakes and make some contribution to society." ”
A few months later, Jeffrey reached a $250 million "settlement" with the U.S. government and, after his release, donated most of his fortune to charity to help those in need.
Since then, Jeffrey seems to have disappeared from the media, and no news has been heard about him.
However, can this large amount of fines and donations really make up for the crimes he committed before? Is a person's illegal gains enough to make up for the sins he has committed?
Perhaps only time will answer this question.