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.”