1997 Albanian Unrest

The story

How pyramid schemes brought down a country. Throughout March 1997, Albania was pushed to the brink of civil war as unrest and armed violence broke out across the country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Albania’s first democratically elected government under Sali Berisha promoted a series of pyramid schemes (VEFA Holding, Gjallica, Populli) from fraudulent investment firms promising astronomical returns. Roughly two thirds of Albania’s population invested in these and were left destitute when the schemes began collapsing in early 1997. Berisha’s government ultimately denied responsibility and refused to seek resolution, prompting large swathes of the population to begin a heavily armed campaign of civil unrest against the government, eventually spreading into neighbouring nations and requiring international military intervention.