Results tagged “jesteroftonga”

On his birthday in October 2001, theatrical gearhead Joe Silovsky read a story in the New York Times that would become his obsession for the next seven years. Titled, "The Money Is All Gone in Tonga, And the Jester's Role Was No Joke," the article detailed a sensational financial scandal roiling the island kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific. It had emerged that the king of Tonga had raked in some $26 million selling Tongan citizenship and passports to Hong Kong Chinese who were worried about an impending Chinese takeover. But he had refused to keep the fortune in Tonga because, he said, "the government would only spend it on roads." Instead, the loot was deposited into a checking account at the Bank of America.