The Woman who Robbed $1 BILLION (and almost got away)

"You mind if I clean up behind me" cuts to johnny complete disarray behind him

I'm a YouTuber from Uzbekistan. Johnny, thank you for this well-researched episode. This truly delves into the darkest side of our recent history and the greatest robbery ever to happen to Uzbekistan. I was aware of all this corruption, but I was amazed at how openly she used to write about everything on Twitter. That's insane! 🤯

As a guy from Uzbekistan all you you have said are actually true. However you missed worst parts of the story. She tried sell our gold, but plane carrying the gold bars were plundered by Putin's regime when the flew through Russia. Overall damage of Gulnara to our country to be estimated 15$ billion not 842 millions. Imagine those amount of money was distributed to ordinary people. She was a really insatiable beast. I can't imagine her being our leader. I think it would be interesting if you make a video about his father.

She already had the influence but Harvard really gave her the playbook and organization skills to maximize crime.

This is intended as constructive feedback and not a criticism of your work, but I found this video to be excessively chaotic. The combination of keyboard sounds, multiple voiceovers overlapping, water spilling, eating sounds, and drinking/slurping didn't seem to fit well in a documentary-style format. It felt more suitable for a fast-paced TikTok video. However, I did appreciate the detailed information provided and the parts of the video that were less chaotic worked quite effectively. The content and story were very interesting as well.

As a follower from Uzbekistan who never skips any of your videos, I'd never expected to see you doing video about the hugest thief of Uzbekistan. Wow!

I recall myself as a young boy, around the age of 14 or 15, picking cotton in the fields instead of attending my school. Meanwhile, Gulnara was walking confidently down international catwalks, promoting her clothing brand, which was built on the hardships endured by children like me.

This video feels like a short film trying to be a full length feature.

English is not my first language, and even though I have a high level of proficiency in English, this was still difficult to follow. I can see that you were taking us through your own mental workflow, and I really appreciate the artistic aspect of this editing. However, please keep in mind that you have people watching from all over the world, and with this type of editing, we can easily lose track of the story while trying to keep up with the noises, movement, voices overlapping other voices, and the fast pace... Since this is my first comment here, I just wanted to add that your work is impeccable and truly inspiring! I'm looking forward to seeing your next videos.

As a citizen of Uzbekistan, I can tell you that the saddest part is that people are not aware of these things. Media doesn't dare to touch this topic. People are brainwashed by propaganda and still think that she is a hero and feel sorry for her spending her time in prison. Our people are waking up eventually. Thank you for your effort and attention!

Now in Uzbekistan the same horrific scenarios are being done by the Mirziyoyevs and their son-in-laws who have this tremendous power lust and ill intentions to torture the nation who are living miserably under their strict regime. God help the people of Uzbekistan.

All the Uzbeks here 🇺🇿

This felt like a 30-minute tiktok, so much going on, so much sounds effects and vfx.

As an Uzbek I can confidently say that she sold all artifacts and museum pieces from my country to private collections

The best thing about this video was you showing how you approach a story, great video johnny ...liked it

Your videos are always SO interesting. Not only the incredible in-depth research you do and the people you interview, but the filming and editing is incredible. Obsessed.

If you had a "How to spot a narcissist" checklist she would tick all the boxes

the whole video feels like intro, too chaotic

Some of the "dramatic editing" is too over the top and really distasteful. It's like watching indian soap opera but for mini-documents.

A few additional points on the Central Asian context: - Re: the number of degrees she "earned" from universities in Uzbekistan, keep in mind that corruption is a systemic problem in Uzbekistan's higher education system, and that was even more so during the Karimov years. Degrees get awarded to prominent "students" who completed a fraction of the necessary coursework -- who maybe even only set foot on campus a handful of times, or not at all -- simply because they have the right connections, and those connections pressure the academic bureaucracy to sign off on the necessary paperwork. If you're a professor at a university in Uzbekistn, and the daughter of the President comes in to sit for the final exam, even if she turns in a blank sheet of paper, you're going to give her a passing mark, because you know what the secret police are going to do to you if you don't. It's best to think of those as more-or-less honorary degrees, not genuine certification of academic achievement. - It's common for authoritarian leaders to give their immediate family members prominent positions within government. As an extreme example, Rustam Emomali, the son of Tajikistan's president Emomali Rahmon (who is just as bad, if not a worse dictator than Karimov was) currently serves as the mayor of the country's capital, Dushanbe, and as chairman of the rupper-stamp national senate. Quite a busy man. As a more reasonable example, Saida Mirziyoyeva, eldest daughter of Uzbekistan's current president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev (who by most assessments is still very much an authoritarian, but a marked improvement from his predecessor) is currently a senior advisor in the Presidential Administration and informally serves as a sort of cultural-ambassador-at-large, often representing Uzbekistan internationally. This gives them leadership experience, but more importantly, a public profile and an opportunity to build relationships with other elites. - Inoyatov was widely considered the second-most powerful man in Uzbekistan, after only President Karimov himself, someone with an independent power base due to his control over the secret police. He is also identified by some analysts as the kingmaker who helped the current president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, secure the top spot. - The overall situation in Uzbekistan has improved quite a bit since the new president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, came to power at the end of 2016. The political situation has improved -- Uzbekistan's score on the Freedom in the World index has improved from 3/100 in 2017 to 12/100 in 2024. Notably, Mirziyoyev sidelined Inoyatov and eventually forced him out of government, though this was probably more about securing his own position than concern for human rights or anything. Mirziyoyev talks like a reformer and, to some extent, he walks the walk. Economic privatization and liberalization is one of the key points of his governing agenda, but this is somewhat limited, both by resistance from within the government and by external factors beyond his control. For example, the government has been incredibly keen to sell off several state-owned banks, but fear of sanction contagion after the increased sanctions against Russia has spooked potential international investors. Uzbekistn really is a wonderul country. It has a rich, fascinating history, and some of the kindest people you'll ever meet. It's a shame that their fortunes are held back by people who abuse their power.