As Vaja Jhashi—a powerful and controversial grain baron at the center of Eastern Europe’s agro-industrial world—faces explosive allegations of civil theft and financial deception in a Florida court, a closer look at his background reveals a troubling pattern.
The Geneva-based grain mogul, who also owns a home in New York, has been under scrutiny for alleged ties to U.S.-sanctioned Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc, offshore dealings and monopolistic control of Moldova’s grain trade.
He now faces accusations of defrauding a U.S. trading partner in a $17.5 million “civil theft” that could lead to more than $52 million in damages.
The legal firestorm centers on a 2023 deal involving 33,000 tons of soybean meal between Lombard Trading International Corp. and TOI Commodities S.A., a Swiss-based Trans-Oil subsidiary controlled by Jhashi.Trans-Oil has been characterized as the “largest Moldovan business group.”
Despite personally signing a settlement agreement in November 2024, in which he pledged an “irrevocable commitment” to repay the $17.5 million debt from the transaction within 60 days, Lombard claims that Jhashi has defaulted again. A final deadline of Jan. 15, 2025, passed without payment, prompting Lombard to threaten a civil theft lawsuit under Florida Statute 772.11, which allows for treble damages in cases of willful fraud.
Lombard has already launched proceedings in Switzerland and through the Grain and Feed Trade Association in the United Kingdom, but Florida has become the legal battleground where the full scope of Jhashi’s global business empire—and its shadowy underpinnings—could unravel.
The Florida civil theft case could be a pivotal moment. If courts find Jhashi knowingly defrauded Lombard, the penalties could exceed $52 million, with implications not only for his personal fortune—estimated at over $200 million—but also for Trans-Oil’s global financing, trade relationships and legal exposure across Europe and the U.S.
Jhashi has remained silent on the case as legal threats mount and public scrutiny deepens. But to critics, regulators and former allies alike, this case may finally bring daylight to the opaque empire of Moldova’s most powerful—and most shadowed—agribusiness tycoon.
Born in the Republic of Georgia in 1966 to a Soviet diplomat with alleged KGB ties, Jhashi’s story reads like a Cold War thriller turned corporate power play. After serving in the Soviet military in Afghanistan, he migrated to Indiana in the 1990s and quickly entered the agro-trade business.
His early partnerships ended in legal disputes, but by the late 1990s, Jhashi aligned with Fort Wayne, Indiana-based entrepreneur James Kelley, whose financing helped launch Trans-Oil in Moldova.
When Kelley died suddenly in 2005, Jhashi seized full control of Trans-Oil.
Although a 12.5% minority investment from global asset manager Oaktree Capital Management in 2019—along with governance reforms—slightly diluted his control, Jhashi remains the sole architect and dominant force behind the company.
Oaktree, which gained a board seat as part of the deal, manages $202 billion in assets with a focus on alternative investments in credit, equity and real estate strategies.
Jhashi’s son, Tamaz, now holds a senior executive role, deepening concerns over dynastic succession in a company already criticized for excessive centralization and lack of transparency.
Through aggressive acquisitions, political favors and multi-million dollar loans from Western institutions, Jhashi built Trans-Oil into Moldova’s de facto agricultural monopoly, controlling nearly every stage of the grain and sunflower oil supply chain—from fields to ports to processing plants.
After acquiring Moldova’s only port at Giurgiulesti and securing state-backed financing—including $10 million from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation and $70 million from the World Bank’s IFC—Jhashi squeezed out competitors and solidified his market dominance.
Trans-Oil now controls grain storage, transport and export, with small producers accusing the company of manipulating quality assessments and using political influence to block rival exports.
“Trans-Oil’s dominance allows the company to bend the market to its will, often to the detriment of Moldovan farmers,” Mongabay wrote of Trans-Oil’s dominance in Moldova.
Trans-Oil’s complex web of offshore entities and financial maneuvers enabled it to acquire key silos and infrastructure, while local authorities have largely ignored complaints about its market dominance.
The company is also known for skirting taxes.
In 2017, it paid just $346,000 on $35 million in profits—a gap watchdogs link to its use of offshore hubs in Cyprus and Switzerland.
While Trans-Oil claims its dominance stems from heavy investment, farmers and exporters argue that its monopoly suppresses prices and limits access to higher-value European markets.
Cornel Burcovschi, a farmer near Moldova’s second-largest city, Bălți, told Mongabay the sunflower market is effectively closed to competition.
“We can sell to [Trans-Oil’s] Floarea Soarelui or to Romania and we are obliged to accept that price because it’s impossible to export by yourself,” Burcovschi told Mongabay. “Other farmers tried, but there’s a monopoly.” Internal emails from competitors show the impact of his tactics.
One rival, Yuri Drukker, who ran the WJ Group which was later acquired by Jhashi, complained about Jhashi in an email after he was muscled out of Moldova’s agricultural heartland.
As Jhashi’s Trans-Oil empire grew, so did his political entanglements—most notably his ties to Vladimir Plahotniuc, a disgraced Moldovan oligarch described as a “close associate.”
Plahotniuc was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 for systemic corruption and for manipulating Moldova's political, judicial and law enforcement systems to consolidate power.
As a former Member of Parliament and de facto leader of the Democratic Party, he used bribery, media control and political coercion to suppress opposition and rig elections—at one point owning four of Moldova’s five major TV stations. The sanctions were part of broader U.S. efforts to counter Russian influence and corruption in the region.
After fleeing Moldova in 2019, Plahotniuc reportedly lived in a $2.2 million Miami condo linked to Jhashi. The property was managed by Trans-Oil executive Dmitriy Kurilo, who had granted Jhashi power of attorney and signed key financial documents in his name.
Adding to the intrigue, Jhashi later registered a Florida company—Sigmateli Limited LLC—bearing a name nearly identical to a Cypriot firm tied to Plahotniuc’s wife, Oxana Childescu, and associated with luxury assets across Europe.
While Jhashi’s team claims the Florida entity has “no assets or activity,” investigators say the timing and naming raise red flags about potential money laundering and proxy ownership. Meanwhile, Jhashi denies any business ties to Plahotniuc.
Jhashi’s influence also extends to Washington.
In 2016, Trans-Oil funded Atlantic Council events attended by Plahotniuc, and in 2018, former U.S. Ambassador to Moldova Asif Chaudhry joined Trans-Oil’s board—despite previously overseeing U.S. aid to the company.
Critics, including former Moldovan diplomats and prosecutors, argue that ties between Jhashi, Chaudhry and Plahotniuc show how Moldova’s elites leverage Western institutions to legitimize themselves and obscure corruption under the guise of transatlantic cooperation.
Chaudhry has denied any conflict of interest in joininig Trans-Oil’s board.
“There is nothing more important for me than my integrity,” Chaudhry said in an email to Mongabay. “And one reason for my decision to accept the offer to be part of the TransOil board was that from everything I had visibility on, in spite [of] what you might hear as negative comments about this company, TransOil, while being a private company, has always been unusually transparent.”
Chaudhry also notably denied any financial ties between Jhashi and Plahotniuc.
“Based on the visibility I have about TransOil as a board member, I have seen no evidence of any sort that Vlad Plahotniuc has any financial/commercial interest or link with this company,” Chaudhry wrote in an email to investigative journalists reporting for Mongabay. “Mr. Vaja Jhas[h]i has always been open and transparent about his personal relationship with Mr. Plahotniuc through Moldovan business or social circles in general.”
Watchdog groups like WatchDog Moldova and former anti-corruption officials insist such denials are implausible.
“To think the company is not connected to Plahotniuc you would have to not know Moldova at all,” NGO director Valeriu Pasa, said according to Mongabay.