Abstract
Corruption by heads of government is not a new problem. However, it has more serious consequences today when practiced by dictators or authoritarian leaders. The mobility of wealth prevents effective recovery of the assets; the size of the stolen funds has major economic consequences for the country’s economic development. The problems that new governments experience in recovering corruption proceeds involve matters that are sensitive in terms of politics, law, and international relations. Ferdinand Marcos was President of the Republic of the Philippines from November 1965 until his flight in February 1986. Marcos declared martial law and imposed an unjust dictatorship in 1972. Marcos, his wife, and their associates probably looted, diverted, and laundered at least 5 billion dollars in public assets that represented foreign economic and military assistance and kickbacks from public works contracts in the Philippines. Marcos used an extensive and complex system of laundering money through Swiss and offshore banks. Swiss law, practice, and other factors posed major obstacles to recovering the hidden wealth. The Philippine Government identified the Swiss bank accounts from documents left behind by the deposed president. A Filipino banker devised a plan to recover the Marcos fortune. The banks admitted to the accounts’ existence only after awareness of the overwhelming evidence about them. Changes in Swiss law since 1986 should affect the acceptance of dictators’ funds in Switzerland; the laws will be important in all future cases of corruption involving heads of foreign governments
Or take a trip down memory lane when Isabel ripped off Angola:
From Billionaire Princess to Dubai exile: The glittering rise and stunning fall of Isabel dos Santos
How Angola’s billionaire “princess” built a vast empire before becoming the focus of global corruption investigations
May 29, 2026
Isabel Kukanova dos Santos is an Angolan businesswoman, the eldest child of Angola’s former President José Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled the country from 1979 to 2017. (Picture via Nuno Coimbra, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons)
Darling, grab your champagne flute because this is one royal saga dripping with billions, betrayal, and bikini-clad defiance to make the Chivayo divorce saga look like a picnic.
Isabel dos Santos was once the undisputed princess of Angola, Africa’s richest woman with a fortune that made jaws drop and eyes widen in envy. Forbes once pegged her at a cool US$3.5 billion, a glittering empire built on diamonds, telecoms, banking, and oil.
But oh honey, how the mighty have fallen. Today, stripped of assets worth over US$2 billion across continents, she is fighting her legal battles from a swanky 31st-floor apartment in Dubai Marina, where she treats us to videos of herself dancing poolside like the world is not watching her every move.
Born on 20 April 1973 in Baku, Azerbaijan, to Angola’s long-ruling president José Eduardo dos Santos and his Russian wife Tatiana Kukanova, Isabel entered the world with a silver spoon the size of an oil rig.
Her father ruled Angola with an iron fist for 38 years, from 1979 to 2017, and little Isabel was nicknamed “the princess” back home for good reason. She attended an all-girls boarding school in England before studying electrical engineering at London’s prestigious King’s College.
But this was no ordinary heiress content with trust funds. “I was taught to make my own way in life, and never to depend on any man, be it father, brother, or husband,” she once declared, painting herself as a self-made trailblazer with a fierce independent streak.
Her entry into business was pure glamour. At just 24, she snapped up a stake in Miami Beach, a chic beach bar and restaurant in Luanda overlooking the Atlantic. Picture it: weekends filled with the city’s elite sipping cocktails as waves crashed nearby. It was the perfect launchpad.
She built stakes in diamonds, telecom giant Unitel, Efacec in Portugal, EuroBic bank, and even chaired the state oil company Sonangol. By her forties, she was everywhere, from cement to media. Forbes crowned her Africa’s first female billionaire and the continent’s youngest, with an empire spanning hundreds of companies.
The trivia surrounding Isabel is deliciously extravagant. She married Congolese art collector and businessman Sindika Dokolo in 2002 in a lavish ceremony. For their 10th anniversary, they flew dozens of friends and family to Angola for a three-day blowout that screamed old money meets new power.
Epstein and Angola:
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