Steal Ending Explained: Who is Behind the Robbery?

The Prime Video show ‘Steal’ is an intense crime thriller where one heist turns an office worker’s life upside down. Zara Dunne is a trade processor at Lochmill Capital, a finance firm that, unfortunately, becomes the target of an armed robbery. As a result, she and her close friend, Luke, find themselves on the business end of a gun, forced to make transfers of 4 billion pounds. However, the worst is yet to come as the aftermath finds Zara floating on the radar of not only the local police investigators, but also the MI5 and the deadly robbers. Consequently, her life becomes hellish overnight as she finds herself dodging danger at every turn while also covertly working with DCI Rhys Covac in an attempt to uncover the mastermind behind the entire operation. However, multiple influential powers seem to be working against the duo, compelling them to wonder exactly how far up the rotted corruption extends in this vicious financial crime. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Steal Recap

When Zara Dunne goes in for work at her workplace, Lochmill Capital, she has no idea of the storm that is brewing on the horizon. Between nursing a hangover and welcoming a newbie to the team, the trade processor abruptly finds herself in the middle of a hostile takeover. A group of armed robbers, donning prosthetic masks, covertly take over the floor with one clear intention: transferring 4 billion pounds out of the fund and into their bank accounts. Naturally, they need signatures from higher-up employees as well as lower-rung trade processors, like Zara and Luke, to move the money. Ultimately, they succeed in their mission and exit the premises before any authorities can arrive. The next day at the office proves chaotic, particularly for the trade processor, who managed to keep her cool and complied with the robbers to ensure no one was seriously injured. As DCI Rhys Covac is assigned to the case, he initially theorizes that the robbers must have had an inner connection to the firm.

Meanwhile, Zara and Luke, the actual inner connections, remain distressed. As promised, the robbers had transferred payments to the duo through untraceable crypto. However, instead of the agreed-upon 100 thousand, both trade processors find 5 million pounds in their accounts. Luke jumps to the worst conclusion and assumes the robbers are planning to use them as scapegoats or worse. Additionally, he’s spoken of Rhys’ growing interest in them, once his financial investigator, Darren Yoshida, confirms that their positions at the company would make them ideal for an inside source in the robbery. Consequently, in a state of paranoia, he ends up reaching out to the Detective. Nonetheless, the robbers, who had been keeping an eye on the duo the entire time, move quickly and abduct Luke. Zara, who was on her way to see her frantic friend, witnesses the entire debacle and tries to flee the scene before she can be noticed.

Yet, although the robbers manage to spot her, Zara ends up directly crossing paths with Rhys. Even so, he continues to play the part of an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time. While the detective refuses to buy her act, his colleague, MI5 agent Sam Fitch, seems to hold a different opinion. As a result, Rhys grows suspicious of the Intelligence agency’s real reason for inserting itself in the investigation. Eventually, this leads him to show up in the nick of time, saving the unlucky trade processor from a hound of MI5 agents outside her house. By then, Zara had also realized that the robbers would sooner kill her than allow her to keep her head down. As such, she ends up allying herself with Rhys. The latter is dealing with complications of his own, now that he has realized that the department is relying on the failure of this case, which could inevitably lead to him losing his job. Therefore, the two conspire to join forces, identify the elusive mastermind behind the robbery, and bring the truth to light. However, Zara finds herself questioning her allegiance when MI5 manages to corner her.

The MI5 agent knows that Zara is close to discovering the high-up executive who was likely in cahoots with the robbers. Therefore, she offers to give the trade processor a brand new identity and a chance to start anew outside of London in exchange for the sensitive information. As a result, once she gets her hands on some useful information, she decides to ditch the detective and throw in her lot with the MI5 to secure at least a new beginning for herself. Nevertheless, her plans go south once again when one of the robbers, Morgan, shows up at her house, armed and eager to steal her 5 million pound cut. After a series of Hail Mary efforts to keep her life, Zara finds herself in Lochmill Capital with Luke and a dangerous Morgan, who is trying to locate Milo’s code wallet with millions inside of it. In the end, a lethal shootout takes place inside the finance firm, killing almost every single member of the criminal band. Furthermore, Zara and Luke are advised to stick to an MI5-approved story while Rhys receives an expulsion for his efforts. Yet, even as things begin to calm down, the mystery of the robbery’s purpose and the mastermind behind it persists.

Steal Ending: Who is Behind the Robbery? Why Did They Steal the Money?

For most of the story, Zara remains in one life-threatening situation or another. The robbers consider her a liability, while MI5 has no qualms about using its secretive methods to make her disappear for good. The fact that she is also undoubtedly a criminal who can be charged for her collusion with the robbers further complicates her situation. Even so, aside from her own well-being, another topic proves to be her primary concern throughout most of her narrative. Who exactly is the mastermind puppeteering the robbers, and to what purpose? Eventually, the explanation arrives in the most unexpected of ways. As Zara is attempting to wrap the last dredges of her life in London to find her new beginning elsewhere, she pays one last visit to Rhys. This visit, though emotionally taxing, unlocks a major clue for the former detective, who finally connects the last dot needed to unveil the mastermind’s identity.

As it turns out, all this time, Darren Yoshida, the financial investigator consulting on Rhys’ case, was behind orchestrating the entire robbery. The covert criminal is someone who has climbed the corrupt ladder of the finance world before and found the journey to be incredibly meaningless and hollow. For the same reason, he changed tracks and began working as a financial investigator. Nonetheless, even that doesn’t prove to be enough. Darren is someone who can starkly see the various injustices pervading the financial systems that the world has subscribed to on a global scale. He’s disgusted by the reality that a bunch of numbers on a screen can decide the fate of millions of starving and struggling people, while the top 1% continue to cut corners for themselves. In particular, the nature of tax evasion and its pervasive hold on society proves to be a major point of contention for the financer.

For the same reason, Darren orchestrated the entire robbery at Lochmill Capital as a bigger ploy to target the major tax havens functioning out of the UK. First, he hires a team of capable thieves to carry out a heist at Lochmill Capital. The financial firm is deliberately chosen for its connections to the nation’s pension accounts. By doing so, he manages to create big headlines about the heist and insert himself as the financial investigator on the case. Afterward, he could operate as an inside man, controlling the board from the outside while holding onto all the pressing intel. Furthermore, he could use his close proximity to the case and Rhys to leak the information revealing the offshore accounts linked to the moving of the money stolen during the robbery.

This allows him to bring major tax evaders, such as arms dealer Sir Toby Gould, into the fold. Consequently, this sparks a broader conversation about the nature of such offshore accounts, which are more often than not tax havens for the ultra-rich. Since the inciting crime, the theft of people’s pensions, possessed such great magnitude, the scope of legal investigation into it also remains large. As a result, it inevitably leads authorities to move forward with plans to actually look into the shady accounts. Whether or not these investigations, likely to be decelerated by bureaucracy and government involvement, succeed isn’t the prime objective of Darren’s master plan. Instead, his foremost motivation stemmed from his desire to create a spectacle that highlighted corruption within the global financial system.

Do Zara and Rhys Accept the Mastermind’s Bribe?

Regardless of Darren Yoshida’s ideologically noble motivations, the reality of his actions still takes an immoral toll. From endangering various lives, risking the hard-earned money of the common population, and creating social unrest, he can be charged with numerous crimes. Nonetheless, the truth of the matter is that Zara and Rhys are the only ones who have caught up to this game. He was successful in posthumously painting Milo, a victim of the entire debacle, as the perceived mastermind. Therefore, unless the former finance trader and detective goes public with the truth, Darren has nothing to worry about. Fortunately, even if the duo refuses to be swayed by his explanation, the finance investigator has another way to buy their silence: money. In the aftermath of the shootout that killed Morgan and his colleagues, a strange thing happened at Lochmill Capital.

The stolen 4 billion pounds were returned to the firm’s accounts entirely out of the blue. Nonetheless, while Darren did return the initial loot of the robbery, he has another hundred million pounds lying around. When the money was being moved, it went into the offshore accounts of tax-evading billionaires like Gould. Afterward, as the money continued to move, the existing money in these tax havens was cleaned out of the accounts. As a result, by the end, even after Darren returns the original amount to the investment fund, he’s left with millions. As such, he uses this money to bribe Zara and Rhys. Although he manages to paint a pretty picture, insisting that this polluted money could be used to make a value in the real world, Zara sees the offer for what it was: another debt in her and Rhys’ column that would give another person power over their lives. As a result, she urges the ex-detective to leave the money and walk away from the confrontation.

Why Was the Stolen Money Returned?

Darren Yoshida’s motivations behind the grand heist remain decisive if a bit convoluted. He steals 4 billion pounds from an investment fund that specializes in managing private and government pensions. Initially, when Morgan and the other robbers carry out the heist, they never leave the premises with the money in their pockets. The nature of the traceable transfer makes it so that the money has to go through several channels before it can be of any real use. The robbers assume that a big payout is waiting for them at the end of the line. Nonetheless, much like everyone else, they’re also in the dark about the specifics of the crime. They have no real idea about their covert boss’ intentions or endgame. Thus, they’re unaware that Darren was never planning on truly stealing the money in the first place.

All that Darren wanted from the robbery was to create a performance that would divert public and authorities’ attention to offshore accounts and the potential corruption they entail. He knew that a robbery at a private sect or a company would not create the level of public engagement and gravity regardless of the magnitude of the stolen money. For the same reason, he targets the public’s pension to gather attention and interest. Yet, he was never truly planning on exploiting this money to his own benefit. Despite his morally dubious ways, Darren has no outright evil or gluttonous plan. As such, once he gets what he wants from the entire charade, namely, a global investigation into offshore accounts, he decides to return most of the stolen money to its rightful owners.

What Happens to the Code Wallets?

Given the tech-forward nature of the robbery in this story, code wallets become a prominent aspect of the narrative. Zara and Luke are both paid for their involvement in the heist through online cryptocurrency. They are instructed to transfer this bribe off their accounts and to physical code wallets to be liquefied eventually, once the heat of the crime dies down. As such, both traders have 5 million on their respective devices. Similarly, Milo, the higher executive, was also involved in this scheme and was given a 20 million cut, likewise stored in a code wallet. After Luke manages to convince Morgan to facilitate his escape in exchange for Zara’s cut, the robber eventually finds himself targeting the bounties of all three insider traitors.

Ultimately, this results in a showdown at Lochmill Capital, the location where Milo stashed the passcode to his wallet. The fight that unravels is over the possession of these three code wallets, or 30 million pounds in total. In the end, Morgan dies and takes his entire robbery group down with him. Meanwhile, Zara, Luke, and Rhys are escorted out by the authorities. In the aftermath, the MI5 comes up with a solution to tie up all loose ends by pinning the blame on Milo and letting his other two collaborators walk free. Even so, while Zara is allowed to keep her freedom and a new identity for her fresh start, she doesn’t get to keep her code wallet. However, the trader always knew this was a strong possibility. Therefore, in the moments between Morgan’s death and the authorities’ arrival, she hides Milo’s code wallet in one of her office desk trinkets. Consequently, in the end, before leaving London, when she collects her things from Lochmill Capital, the wallet, containing 20 million pounds, ends up right back in her possession.