NEW: Amid its rise as a major global financial hub, the United Arab Emirates has also become a thriving offshore destination. The #PandoraPapers provide an unprecedented look at how the Emirates operate as a secrecy haven and conduit for dirty money. 🧵bit.ly/3CmTp98
ICIJ reporter @mokhbersahafi traveled to the UAE to investigate offshore companies created within Dubai’s corporate enclave and the role that the country’s six royal families play in its economy and its offshore financial industry. bit.ly/3CmTp98
In #PandoraPapers, @mokhbersahafi & @michaelwhudson show how the UAE has become a nexus for financial crime. Its offshore industry’s clients include internet moguls who moved hundreds of millions for child porn traffickers, heroin dealers & other lowlifes. bit.ly/3CmTp98
The UAE is also home to SFM Corporate Services, an offshore company formation provider. The #PandoraPapers shows how money launderers and other bad guys used SFM to set up hard-to-trace offshore firms. SFM denies wrongdoing. bit.ly/3CmTp98
The #PandoraPapers reveal the offshore holdings of heavyweight Emirati royals, including PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; National Security Advisor Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan; and the president's son, Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan. bit.ly/3osavgQ
#PandoraPapers exposes the secretive Emirati financial interests of politicians and corporate leaders from 17 African countries. @willfitzgibbon reports on how the UAE has become an offshore destination for elites from some of Africa's poorest nations. bit.ly/3kICQ1d
The UAE has also turned to the gold trade to make up for its dwindling oil reserves, and now ranks among the world’s top gold importers, including from conflict-ridden African nations — a major driver of money laundering in the country. #PandoraPapersbit.ly/3CmTp98
The U.S. sees the UAE as a key military ally and bulwark against terrorism in the Middle East. This may explain why it hasn’t applied the same kind of pressure to clean up its offshore industry as it has on Switzerland and other tax havens. #PandoraPapersbit.ly/3CmTp98
While the UAE is now facing more anti-money laundering scrutiny, recent transparency reforms have been criticized as weak and its patchwork ‘free zone’ system, generally controlled by royals, is seen as particularly complicated to monitor. #PandoraPapersbit.ly/3CmTp98
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A member of the Qatari royal family invested about $50 million in Newsmax, bolstering the conservative outlet at a time when Qatar was facing diplomatic pressure and seeking U.S. allies.
Sheikh Sultan bin Jassim Al Thani, a former Qatari government official and the owner of a London-based investment fund, Heritage Advisors, invested in Newsmax in 2019 and 2020.
The investment has not been previously reported. buff.ly/3ITH5mh
The documents were obtained by ICIJ from a trove of roughly 100,000 leaked files from Genesis Trust, a Cayman Islands-based financial services provider now called Highvern.
Newsmax and Heritage Advisors confirmed the investment. buff.ly/3ITH5mh
ICIJ's 2023 investigations stretched around the world, exposing greenwashing in the global sustainability industry, labor trafficking in the Middle East, and the sprawling financial networks that have powered the Putin regime.
ICIJ-led investigation #CyprusConfidential revealed how the EU member state has served as a hideaway for Russian wealth, with Cypriot firms moving vast sums for oligarchs, including after Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion.
Two wealthy Haitians sanctioned by Canada owned or had other links to almost 20 companies and trusts created in some of the world’s most secretive tax havens, according to documents from the #PandoraPapers.
1/8 #CyprusConfidential reveals the pivotal role the Mediterranean island plays in helping oligarchs move and hide their wealth. Here are six billionaires identified in the 3.6 million document leak: bit.ly/40GMmpy
2/8 #CyprusConfidential details how, just days before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, more than $1.7 billion worth of shares from Russian steel giant Evraz were transferred from former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich’s BVI-based company to himself.
3/8 ICIJ’s partners for #CyprusConfidential also report that Abramovich wielded significantly more influence in European professional football than was previously known: bit.ly/3sDwmIa
1/12 🧵 #CyprusConfidential, a new investigation from ICIJ, @paper_trail_m and nearly 70 media partners, exposes the sprawling financial networks that have powered the Putin regime as it dominates its neighbors — and undermines the West. bit.ly/473nACl
@paper_trail_m 2/12 A trove of 3.6 million leaked documents shows how Russian money flowed through Cyprus’ banking system over decades, under the watch of the European Union. bit.ly/49DkJSc
@paper_trail_m 3/12 As the West sought to block funding for President Vladimir Putin’s war machine after Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion, Cyprus firms scrambled to keep key backers of his regime a step ahead of looming sanctions. bit.ly/3MGbRl3
1/26 🧵Amazon. McDonald’s. Chuck E. Cheese. InterContinental Hotels.
Workers at Middle East locations of four famous Western brands say they’ve been subjected to oppressive labor practices that are often hallmarks of labor trafficking. #TraffickingInc
2/26 In the latest from #TraffickingInc, ICIJ spoke with nearly 100 current and former migrant workers in the Persian Gulf who reported exorbitant recruiting fees, passport confiscations, and opaque hiring practices.
3/26 Experts consider practices like these to be indicators of labor trafficking— which the U.S. and U.N. defines as using force, coercion or fraud to exploit workers.
🧵Two years ago today, ICIJ published the #PandoraPapers — the largest investigation in journalism history.
The 11.9 million-document leak exposed the financial secrets of politicians, business people, celebrities and criminals in over 100 countries. bit.ly/3PyAVeo
In France, billionaire & former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis remains under investigation after #PandoraPapers revealed he failed to disclose ownership of a $22 million villa near Cannes, bought through a web of shell companies. He denies wrongdoing. bit.ly/469IUFM
Peruvian authorities are investigating three members of religious group Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana.
Based on the #PandoraPapers, ICIJ partner Concova reported the trio secretly created shell companies in BVI and Panama to invest in a mining business. bit.ly/3PFhO2f