On a hot Sunday night in August 2014, television broadcasts are interrupted by a statement to the nation. The Governor of the Bank of Portugal announces that BES has just gone bankrupt. Deposits were saved; the rest remained uncertain. The government did not intervene. Portugal lost its largest financial group. As collateral damage, Portugal Telecom collapsed. Meanwhile, retail clients discovered that their savings in commercial paper were not, in fact, protected. Protests erupted in the streets. Ten years later, thousands of people are still awaiting compensation.

Ricardo Salgado watches time slip away. But on December 31, 2013, he receives an invaluable gift: a sovereign guarantee signed by the president of Angola, covering the millions of dollars that had disappeared in Luanda. BES seems to be saved. However, the Bank of Portugal has doubts and simultaneously demands a record capital increase in the history of the Portuguese banking system: 1.045 billion euros. The Espírito Santo Group’s overall debt continues to grow. At the bank branches, unrest increases. On television, everything is said to calm the public: BES is not at risk. But is it really?

The largest Portuguese financial group is heading toward the edge of a cliff. But no one knows it yet. A businessman in conflict with Ricardo Salgado takes a dossier with the secret numbers of the Espírito Santo Group to the Bank of Portugal. The debts are colossal—and short-term. In Angola, another massive financial hole emerges. There are also dangerous connections between BES and the shadow banking network. Within the family’s High Council, José Maria Ricciardi tries to dethrone his cousin. How long can Ricardo Salgado hold on?

The bankruptcy of Banco Espírito Santo is the greatest financial disaster in modern Portuguese history—and a global case study. On the day of the resolution, decreed by the Bank of Portugal, it was the third-largest bank in the system and part of a group spread across 50 countries. It had direct influence over Portugal Telecom and close ties to the government, which opened doors to contracts. It was on the verge of controlling a large portion of the media through acquisitions of television channels, newspapers, and radio stations. BES was also the only bank to reject the troika’s bailout funds while still managing to secure international market financing. Ricardo Salgado seemed to withstand everything. This is the first part of the story of the man once dubbed “The Owner of All This.”