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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
@OCCRP
Sep 20, 2020 • 6 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
NEW: OCCRP is part of the #FinCENFiles, an investigation led by @ICIJorg and based on a leak obtained by @BuzzFeedNews that exposes how illicit money flows have fueled criminality worldwide.

See what we unearthed from the records 👇 1/
occrp.org/en/the-fincen-…
OCCRP’s initial investigations focus on Reza Zarrab, a Turkish money launderer who was arrested by the US for aiding in sanctions evasion.

In this story, we detail how Zarrab and his family used gold-for-cash schemes to funnel billions into Iran. 2/
occrp.org/en/the-fincen-…
The exact amount Zarrab made from money laundering may never be known, but much of his loot went towards big yachts and personal submarines.

In this story, reporters used social media posts and gov't records to chronicle his extravagant lifestyle. 3/
occrp.org/en/the-fincen-…
Zarrab is most known for money laundering for Iran. Little attention has been given to his shell companies that moved money into Russia.

This story shows how Zarrab exploited lax rules in Dubai and other hubs of financial crime for such purposes. 4/
occrp.org/en/the-fincen-…
OCCRP will continue to release more investigations from the #FinCENFiles.

Until then, follow this page for rolling coverage of smaller but notable banking irregularities — including one involving Paul Manafort — we found in the leaked documents. 5/
occrp.org/en/the-fincen-…
The #FinCENFiles is based on leaked documents obtained by @BuzzFeedNews. To learn more about this project — which involved 400+ journalists — read this overview from @ICIJorg, the group that led this massive effort. 6/
occrp.org/en/the-fincen-…

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More from @OCCRP

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Apr 10
Frederik Obermaier @f_obermaier, co-founder of @paper_trail_m, has spent years investigating financial crime. As a result he doesn’t travel to Switzerland anymore. What’s the connection here?
“I do not want to risk being questioned by police … about my sources,” Frederik says. Under Switzerland’s draconian banking secrecy law — specifically, Article 47 of the Swiss Banking Act — even revealing that someone holds an account with a Swiss bank can lead to up to five years in prison. Sharing that truth with the public? A felony.
But many investigations about corruption and financial crime lead to Swiss banks and wealth managers. And when they do — as in the #SuisseSecrets collaboration, which started with a leak obtained by Frederik and his colleagues, or the story we jointly published yesterday on anti-money laundering lapses at Swiss bank Reyl — journalists shouldn’t be prevented from reporting on them.
Read 4 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Apr 4
NEW: The UK has just sanctioned “Evrasia,” a Russian NGO that interfered in Moldova's elections with cold hard cash.

Run on behalf of Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor, it’s also building an anti-Western propaganda machine.

We've reported on the organization and how it works.👇 Image
Our investigation, based on reporting by a Moldovan partner, @cu_sens, shows that Evrazia is at once a propaganda vehicle, a conduit for illegal financial flows, and an election interference instrument: occrp.org/en/feature/a-r…
@cu_sens Behind it is Shor.

Convicted of massive corruption and exiled from Moldova, he's a sworn enemy of the country’s pro-Western president.

From Russia, he’s leading a movement that calls for Moldova to break with the EU.

Evrazia is part of that. Image
Read 9 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Mar 21
Scam call centers use a secret industry of shadowy service providers that used shell companies, proxy account holders, and sham paperwork to move victims’ funds through accounts at major commercial banks — and into their hands occrp.org/en/project/sca…
Scammers convinced at least 32,000 people worldwide to “invest” $275 million in fake opportunities. They instructed victims to use digital banks like Chase, Revolut, & Wise — and tapped a vast network of unlicensed payment services to forge fake paperwork & dodge bank scrutiny.
One of them, a British tradesman we’ll call “Mark,” was led to believe he was making investments in cryptocurrency and clean energy. A call-center scammer convinced him to open a new digital Chase account and send £7000.

To get help moving the money, the call center opened up the chat app Telegram and messaged a service provider called “Bankio,” which provided bank account info to scammers on demand.
Read 10 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Feb 20
As Secretary General of the @oscepa, Roberto Montella observed last year’s pivotal election in Georgia and took part in a closed-door meeting on the wording of the OSCE’s post-election report.

⚽️But just weeks earlier, he had flown to Tbilisi to attend a football match organized by a top ruling party official occrp.org/en/scoop/osce-…Image
Montella, himself a former football player, travelled to Tbilisi in September 2024 with veteran members of a hometown club, AC Milan, who were set to play a friendly match against a Georgian team.

The local organizer of the event, former AC Milan player Kakha Kaladze, was an old friend.Image
But since leaving football, Kaladze has pursued a stellar career with the country's ruling party Georgian Dream — which had cracked down on civil society, media, and the political opposition amid mass protests.

He is now one of the party’s top figures, and the mayor of Tbilisi.
Read 8 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Feb 14
NEW: After being sanctioned by the US last year, Georgia’s richest man and honorary chair of its ruling party, Bidzina Ivanishvili, moved his assets home. Experts say the effect is to “transfer the risk from himself and his own wealth to the country of Georgia.” occrp.org/en/scoop/slapp…Image
Many of Ivanishvili’s assets were transferred on a single day, January 17, including a firm with construction rights on 12,000 square meters of land within a state-owned national park, @OCCRP, @ifactgeorgia and @georgia_gmc found occrp.org/en/scoop/slapp…
@ifactgeorgia @georgia_gmc Among the transferred assets, reporters found, is a previously-unknown residence in the spa town of Abastumani. It’s got a spa, swimming pool, Turkish bath, rooftop orangery, and basketball court.
Read 4 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jan 28
NEW: A Cypriot company ultimately owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich set up a fake superyacht rental business in an apparent attempt to dodge millions of euros in tax, leaked emails show.

Here’s what we found with @TBIJ and @BBCNews 👇

occrp.org/en/project/cyp…
Between 1999-2010, Abramovich assembled a $1.2 billion fleet of superyachts.

But operating superyachts is expensive, and in the EU, value-added tax must be paid on everything needed to keep them in service…

… unless they were used for commercial purposes.

(Pixsell/Alamy) Image
In 2005, people working for Abramovich set up a complex scheme via Cypriot company Blue Ocean Yacht Management renting the superyachts to customers.

In reality, the “customers” hiring the yachts were companies owned by an offshore trust — ultimately benefitting Abramovich. Image
Read 6 tweets

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