Who Is Jezdimir Vasiljević (Gazda Jezda)

Jezdimir Vasiljević, better known by his nickname Gazda Jezda ("Boss Jezda"), is a Serbian businessman who became one of the most recognizable and controversial public figures in Serbia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Born in 1948 in the village of Topolovnik near Veliko Gradište, he achieved fame and fortune by founding the private savings house Jugoskandik, which promised depositors extremely high interest rates. When the savings house collapsed in 1993, Jezdimir Vasiljević fled the country, leaving tens of thousands of depositors out of pocket. Together with the Dafiment Bank affair, his case is considered one of the largest financial scandals in Serbia's recent history.

Early Life and Childhood

Jezdimir Vasiljević was born in November 1948 in the village of Topolovnik, in the municipality of Veliko Gradište, into a farming family. His father was named Ljuba and his mother Rosica. He grew up in modest rural conditions, and in later interviews he fondly recalled childhood games from his home village, such as turning lambskins inside out at night to scare the neighbors.

According to his own account, Jezdimir Vasiljević started family life very early, at the age of fifteen, with a girl named Zorica, with whom he had a daughter, Živojka. He reportedly married several more times later in life.

Education

Jezdimir Vasiljević completed elementary school in Veliko Gradište, where, as he liked to point out, he walked to school every day. No reliably confirmed information exists about his further education. At the height of his fame, he claimed to hold a master's degree in physics from Australia, but no independent source has ever confirmed this claim, and it is treated in public discourse as unverified.

Life Abroad and Early Business Career

According to various accounts, Jezdimir Vasiljević left the former Yugoslavia in his twenties, intent on making his fortune abroad. By his own account, he lived in Canada, the United States, Australia, Sweden, Austria and elsewhere, working an array of jobs — from tire repairman and film projectionist to trader and stockbroker, as well as, according to his own stories, diamond prospecting and kangaroo hunting. While parts of these stories are difficult to verify, it is known that he spoke several foreign languages, albeit without grammatical precision, as confirmed by acquaintances.

The exact timing of his return to the country was never precisely established, but he is known to have reappeared in Yugoslavia in the late 1980s, during a period of major economic and political upheaval.

Founding the Jugoskandik Savings House

Jezdimir Vasiljević's business activities in Serbia are documented from 1990 onward, during the period when Ante Marković served as prime minister of the federal government, whose reforms briefly pegged the dinar to the German mark. Vasiljević founded the company Jugoskandik DD in Požarevac that year, initially dealing in the sale of technical goods, primarily foreign-brand televisions and video recorders.

By 1991 and 1992, Jugoskandik had grown into a savings house offering citizens foreign-currency deposits at interest rates far higher than those offered by state banks. Its banking license was formally provided through Banka Privatne Privrede (BPP), a bank owned by the local government of Montenegro. Thanks to the promised high returns, rampant hyperinflation, and widespread distrust of state institutions, thousands of Serbian citizens deposited their foreign-currency savings with Jugoskandik, believing they had found a safe way to preserve and grow their money.

The Height of Fame: Politics, Chess, and Media Stardom

At the peak of Jugoskandik's success, Jezdimir Vasiljević became one of the most influential and media-exposed figures in Serbia. In 1992, he ran for President of Serbia, though he did not win the election. That same year, Vasiljević organized and financed one of the most talked-about sporting events of the time — the rematch chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, held at the exclusive resort of Sveti Stefan in Montenegro. The match drew enormous media attention worldwide, but it also brought Bobby Fischer serious legal trouble, since Yugoslavia was under United Nations sanctions at the time.

According to the weekly Vreme, during the wars in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, Vasiljević was reportedly also involved in procuring large quantities of infantry weapons, although these allegations were never prosecuted or definitively proven.

The Collapse of Jugoskandik and Flight from the Country

Despite growing inspections and regulatory scrutiny, depositors continued flocking to Jugoskandik, believing the fairy tale of quick profit would continue. The collapse, however, came suddenly. As early as September 1993, the savings house's expenses began rising sharply, the inflow of new deposits dried up, and by the time of Vasiljević's flight, its liabilities to depositors were estimated at around 312 million German marks.

On the night between March 7 and 8, 1993, Jezdimir Vasiljević left Serbia, crossing the border into Hungary in his own car. He later claimed, in an appearance on state television, that he had not fled but had left the country to continue fighting what he called "state crime." Meanwhile, long lines of desperate depositors formed outside Jugoskandik branches, waiting for hours in the cold in hope of withdrawing their savings.

Years on the Run, Arrest, and Extradition

After fleeing the country, Jezdimir Vasiljević's trail led through several states. According to available information, he stayed in Hungary and Israel, from where he reappeared in public in 1994 and again promised depositors he would repay their money, before later reportedly residing in Colombia, Ecuador, and Romania.

He first returned to Serbia in February 2001, when he was arrested at Belgrade's "Nikola Tesla" Airport upon returning from Cyprus. He spent nine months in detention before being released on October 22, 2001, after the court accepted bail in the form of a mortgage on a house in Dedinje worth 500,000 euros, which was formally not registered in his name.

During the lengthy trial, Vasiljević fled Serbia again in 2006, causing the posted bail to be forfeited and the Dedinje house to later be put up for public sale. An international arrest warrant was issued for him, and Serbian Interpol eventually tracked Vasiljević to the Netherlands, where he was arrested on April 4, 2009. After spending a year in extradition detention due to his right to appeal the Dutch court's decision, Jezdimir Vasiljević was extradited to Serbia on March 26, 2010, and taken directly to the District Prison in Belgrade.

Trial and the Statute of Limitations

Following his extradition, the trial continued on charges of abuse of office, fraud, and embezzlement related to the Jugoskandik pyramid scheme, which had defrauded around 100,000 depositors of an estimated 217 million German marks. On February 20, 2013, Jezdimir Vasiljević was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released from detention that same day, since the four and a half years he had already spent in custody throughout the proceedings counted toward his sentence.

The Court of Appeals in Belgrade later ruled that the absolute statute of limitations on the prosecution had expired on March 6, 2013 — exactly twenty years after Vasiljević first fled the country — meaning the first-instance verdict never became legally binding. In the fall of 2013, Jezdimir Vasiljević was acquitted of defrauding 18,000 depositors due to the expiration of the statute of limitations. After his release, he stated that he did not miss Serbia and announced he would sue the state for compensation over the time he had spent in detention.

A Return to the Public Eye: Appearance on "Farma"

After his release, Jezdimir Vasiljević lived modestly, staying in Čačak at a friend's home, in a rented attic apartment. In October 2013, he surprised the public by entering the popular reality show "Farma" on Pink Television, where, according to media reports, he was greeted upon arrival by singer Zorica Marković, who asked him about the money she had invested in Jugoskandik decades earlier. Due to intense media attention and viewer reaction, Vasiljević was voted off the show after only a few days.

This proved to be his last major public appearance. Afterward, according to domestic media reports, Jezdimir Vasiljević moved between Čačak, Belgrade, and Bulgaria, with acquaintances and relatives describing him as someone struggling to make ends meet and getting around with the help of a cane.

Personal Life

Relatively little reliably confirmed information exists about Jezdimir Vasiljević's personal life. According to his own statements, he entered into a relationship very early, at the age of fifteen, with a girl named Zorica, with whom he had a daughter, Živojka. He reportedly married several more times later in life, though details about his subsequent marriages have not been publicly confirmed.

According to domestic media reports from the mid-2010s, Vasiljević spent a period living with his younger daughter in Germany, who reportedly came to his aid at a time when he was without means of support. His current whereabouts and activities are not publicly known.

Interesting Facts

• Jezdimir Vasiljević claimed to have set out into the world with only five dollars in his pocket, later becoming one of the wealthiest and most influential people in Serbia during the 1990s.
• The 1992 match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, which Vasiljević financed at Sveti Stefan, remains remembered as one of the most controversial events in chess history, precisely because of the international sanctions in place at the time.
• During a period after disappearing from public life, media outlets linked him to a suspicious internet project under the pseudonym "Don Mandok," promoting an alleged discovery of an inexhaustible energy source, with calls for users to donate money toward further research.
• Although sentenced to five years in prison, Jezdimir Vasiljević never actually served additional time behind bars under that verdict, as the time he had already spent in detention throughout the lengthy trial counted toward the sentence.

Legacy and Influence

The case of Jezdimir Vasiljević and his Jugoskandik savings house, alongside the Dafiment Bank affair involving Dafina Milanović, is remembered as a symbol of the economic chaos and legal powerlessness of Serbia during the sanctions and hyperinflation of the 1990s. Jugoskandik's collapse directly affected the lives of tens of thousands of families who never recovered their invested foreign-currency savings, and his case has been used for decades in Serbia as a cautionary example of the dangers of pyramid schemes.

The name Gazda Jezda remains, to this day, a byword in Serbia for large-scale fraud and for a period when, due to distrust in state institutions, citizens were widely willing to risk their entire life savings in search of quick profit.

Biography – Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Jezdimir Vasiljević, also known as Gazda Jezda?

Jezdimir Vasiljević is a Serbian businessman born in 1948, known for founding the Jugoskandik pyramid savings scheme in the early 1990s.

When and where was Jezdimir Vasiljević born?

He was born in November 1948 in the village of Topolovnik, in the municipality of Veliko Gradište.

What was Jugoskandik?

Jugoskandik was a private savings house founded by Jezdimir Vasiljević in the early 1990s, offering depositors extremely high interest rates on foreign-currency deposits, before completely collapsing in 1993.

Why did Jugoskandik collapse?

The savings house operated on the principle of a pyramid scheme, in which payouts to older depositors were funded by new deposits. When the inflow of new money dried up, the system collapsed, and Vasiljević fled the country.

Was Jezdimir Vasiljević ever convicted?

He was sentenced in the first instance in 2013 to five years in prison, but the verdict never became legally binding, as the Court of Appeals ruled that the absolute statute of limitations on prosecution had expired.

How many depositors were harmed by Jugoskandik's collapse?

According to data from the court proceedings, Jugoskandik's collapse harmed around 100,000 depositors for an estimated total of 217 million German marks.

Did Jezdimir Vasiljević appear on a reality show?

Yes, in October 2013 he entered the reality show "Farma" on Pink Television, from which he was voted off after only a few days.

What was Jezdimir Vasiljević's connection to the Fischer–Spassky match?

In 1992, he financed and organized the rematch chess match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky at Sveti Stefan, one of the most controversial chess events of that period.

Is Jezdimir Vasiljević still alive, and where is he now?

According to the most recent available media reports, Jezdimir Vasiljević is alive, but his exact current whereabouts and activities are not publicly known.

Conclusion

Jezdimir Vasiljević, known as Gazda Jezda, remains one of the most striking and controversial figures in Serbia's recent history. From a humble village boy from Topolovnik, through years of emigrant wandering across the world, to the owner of one of the Balkans' most notorious pyramid savings schemes, his life story reflects the chaotic economic and social conditions of 1990s Serbia. Although the collapse of Jugoskandik left lasting consequences for tens of thousands of families, the legal outcome of his case was ultimately shaped by the statute of limitations, meaning Jezdimir Vasiljević never served the full sentence for the offenses he was charged with. Today, his name in Serbia still symbolizes one of the largest financial scandals in the country's history.