Sergei Mavrodi – Criminal or Genius?

The question itself isn't quite well-phrased. Criminal OR genius? IMHO, one doesn't preclude the other; there are plenty of intelligent people in the criminal world. He is definitely a criminal, and the number of deaths and ruined lives on his conscience is greater than all the serial killers combined. I also don't understand why this scam was allowed to continue with the full connivance of government agencies. Apparently, Mavrodi shared with those who needed to be. They simply let him deceive people and make a lot of money from it – he wouldn't have been able to do it on his own. Mavrodi is just a puppet... and we may never even know who the puppeteers are.