He Vanished From a Helicopter. A Week Later, $3 Billion Was Gone

In 1996 a tiny Calgary company with a gold find in the jungles of Borneo was worth about C$6 billion on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In March 1997 its chief geologist, Michael de Guzman, disappeared from a helicopter on the way to the site, and a week later about C$3 billion of that value was gone. By May an independent audit found the gold in the samples had come from somewhere other than the ground at Busang. This video tells the story of Bre-X: David Walsh and John Felderhof, the Busang claim, the numbers that kept growing, the Suharto-era deal-making, the Strathcona audit, and the question of who salted the rock. No one was ever convicted over the fraud. Felderhof, the only Bre-X official ever charged, was acquitted on all eight counts in 2007. De Guzman's death and who was responsible for the salting are still disputed, and the video says where the record stops. Chapters 0:00 - The Cold Open 2:08 - The Last Ten Thousand Dollars 4:05 - The Ledger 6:52 - Everybody Wants a Piece 8:59 - Seven Days in March 11:45 - Six Holes 14:57 - Who Salted the Rock 18:18 - Nobody Looked Inside Sources Strathcona Mineral Services, cover letter (3 May 1997) and summary, as published in the Bre-X news release of 4 May 1997 (Info-Mine). The Globe and Mail: "The rise and fall of Bre-X" (Paul Waldie, 30 July 2007); the verdict story (3 August 2007); trial reports of 16 February 2001 and 18 March 2005; Felderhof obituary (28 October 2019). Newsweek, "Fever in the jungle", April 1997. Christian Science Monitor, 7 May 1997. InvestmentNews, August 2007. Wikipedia, "Bre-X", and the sources it cites. Where sources disagree: the peak share price (C$286.50 "split adjusted" in one account, C$28.65 after the 10-for-1 split in another, the same number on two bases, so the video gives no single peak price); the month of the fire at Busang (January or February 1997) and what it destroyed; how fast the shares fell on 26 March 1997 (within minutes, or over two or three days); and the date of Felderhof's verdict (31 July 2007 in two sources, 9 August in another). Some details (the jewellery and the $61,000 of panned gold, the shares at 6 cents on 7 May, the 9 May bankruptcy filing) rest on a single source and are marked as such in the video. I could not read the Hryn judgment, the full Strathcona report or the three books on the case, so court and audit facts come from the published summaries and press reports. More deception stories: The Lake Erie walleye cheating case, They Almost Won $28,760 Fishing. Then Someone Cut Open the Fish.    • They Almost Won $28,760 Fishing. Then Some...   Thérèse Humbert, Paris Lent Her Millions. Then They Opened the Safe.    • Thérèse Humbert: Paris Lent Her Millions. ...   Wolfgang Beltracchi, The Art Forger Undone by One Tube of Paint    • Wolfgang Beltracchi: The Art Forger Undone...   Illustrations are original artwork made for this video. Narration, music and sound design are original.