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However, in reality, many citizens were utterly clueless about the value of these vouchers and quickly sold them for meager goods. Herein lay the opportunity for the more opportunistic and calculating individuals known as oligarchs. These few men began acquiring vast amounts of wealth by purchasing companies for a pittance, with one reportedly buying 40% of a major oil company for just $100,000. By the mid-1990s, the transformation from a communist state to a version of capitalism rife with gangsters became unmistakable, and the middle class vanished almost entirely.