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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
@OCCRP
Sep 18, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read • Read on X
NEW: Starting with a meeting the day before Trump’s inauguration, here’s the true story behind the "bromance" between President Trump and Turkey’s Erdoğan.

Starring: Trump’s top lobbyist, a Russian oligarch, a jailed shipping tycoon, and Lev Parnas. 1/
occrp.org/en/investigati…
The meeting led to two multi-million dollar contracts for the firm of Brian Ballard, a lobbyist with ties to Trump. It helped build a relationship btw. the two leaders, in which the US president has made foreign policy moves that have baffled both his adversaries and allies. 2/
Involved in setting up the deals was Lev Parnas, whose work with Rudy Giuliani led to Trump’s impeachment.

Also involved were Mübariz Mansimov, a Turkish shipping tycoon accused of terrorism, and Farkhad Akhmedov, a Russian oligarch listed by the US as a Kremlin ally. 3/
Parnas awaits trial on campaign finance charges, and was hit with fresh fraud charges by US prosecutors yesterday. He has since turned on his former allies in Trump’s circle, offering up evidence of int'l deal-making.

Read more about his journey here. 4/
occrp.org/en/investigati…
This investigation was a collaborative effort with our US media partners, @CourthouseNews and @NBCNews 5/

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More from @OCCRP

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Mar 24
NEW: Fiji-based entrepreneur Zhao Fugang's promotion of China’s interests on the Pacific island isn’t any secret — he runs an official “service center” for Chinese citizens inside a hotel he owns — but Australian authorities say he is hiding something:

occrp.org/en/investigati…
Australian intel + police agencies say Zhao is more than a businessman or political operative.

They suspect he is a senior organized crime figure — and are pushing Fiji to move against him.

Fugang, who denies wrongdoing, has not been charged w/a crime. Image
Australia’s top criminal intelligence body took the extraordinary step of adding Zhao to its secret registry of top-priority targets in mid-2023, OCCRP & reporting partners @smh @theage @60Mins learned.

Zhao is the first political operative known to have been added to the list.
Read 11 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Mar 7
“Is this a prank?”
“What donation?”
“I work in a school, I barely survive.”

After journalists at our partner @CivilNetTV found unusual patterns in donation data reported by Armenia’s ruling party, they started calling listed donors to find the truth ⬇️
occrp.org/en/investigati…
Image
Half of the 31 donors reached for comment denied making contributions.

Others refused to answer or said they couldn’t remember if they gave or not. Image
Curiously, nearly all of the party’s donors that year were its own local council candidates.

And many of the listed contributions would have exceeded the donors' declared income and savings. Image
Read 6 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Feb 9
Multiple OCCRP investigations have revealed U.S. real estate purchases made by politically exposed individuals, often with cash ⤵️
In 2022 an @IllicitFlows report said U.S. real estate is the No. 1 destination for laundered dirty money.

At least $2.3 billion was laundered over the past five years through U.S. real estate, the report said.

occrp.org/en/daily/14991…
Last year, we investigated a powerful Bangladeshi politician, who once drove a cab in New York, and found that he owned properties in Queens worth $4M despite earning an official salary of $1,000 a month.

He paid cash for all the properties.

occrp.org/en/investigati…
Read 7 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jan 22
NEW: Software giant SAP agreed to pay at least $220 million to settle bribery charges filed by the U.S. SEC after its investigations w/the Dept. of Justice.

SAP allegedly used third-party intermediaries to bribe government officials in 7 countries.

occrp.org/en/daily/18389…
The SEC said that an employee of SAP Azerbaijan, a subsidiary, gave gifts worth around $3,000 to employees at state-owned oil giant SOCAR to help ensure SAP was awarded a $1.6 million contract.
The same employee also submitted fake documentation indicating the deal with SOCAR closed in Feb. 2022.

In reality, the deal closed on May 12, 2022.

The employee could therefore collect a commission on the deal before being promoted to Managing Director.
Read 4 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jan 17
Authorities in Kyrgyzstan continue their chilling campaign against independent journalists.

11 reporters from OCCRP partner TemirovLive remain in a 48-hour pre-trial detention today.

Their homes & offices were all searched Tuesday.

An update on the deleterious situation: 👇 Image
The @UNHumanRights Office of the High Commissioner expressed concern late Tuesday, noting that authorities in Kyrgyzstan searched the premises of several independent media outlets this week and detained at least 14 journalists.

ohchr.org/en/statements/…
@HRW leads multiple rights groups calling for Kyrgyz authorities to drop criminal cases of “war propaganda” & “calls to mass disorder” initiated against journalists from:

➡️@_24_kg
➡️@TemirovLive
➡️Ayt Ayt Dese
➡️Alga Media
➡️ Archa Media
➡️ @politklinika
hrw.org/news/2024/01/1…
Read 7 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jan 16
‼️ Kyrgyz police have detained multiple current and former journalists from @TemirovLive, an OCCRP partner. They have also searched their apartments. The authorities speak of incitement to riots — an absurd claim. occrp.org/en/daily/18365…
Bolot Temirov and his colleagues have collaborated with OCCRP on several investigations. Some of the arrested journalists are currently working on more stories with us. They are independent professionals who serve the Kyrgyz public. Image
Temirov has been persecuted so consistently that we've done two full investigations on how the security services have gone after him. In one shocking case, agents spread illicitly obtained material about an employee in a form of blackmail. occrp.org/en/investigati…
Read 5 tweets

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