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ICIJ

Mar 29 • 8 tweets • 5 min read

@Ericsson

Hours before @Ericsson general meeting today, here's a timeline of how the CEO and board landed in hot water.

Feb. 7: ICIJ & partners sent detailed questions to Ericsson about corruption in Iraq, including the company’s alleged dealings with ISIS from 2014-2016. #EricssonList

Feb. 8: Instead of answering ICIJ, Ericsson issued a statement about receiving the questions: "media will focus on the conduct of business in unstable regions where terrorist organizations and corruption are present and employees’ safety may be at risk.”
ericsson.com/en/press-relea…

Feb. 15: ICIJ continued to send questions.
Ericsson released a second statement which referenced
"payments to intermediaries" and "alternate transport routes" used "when terrorist organizations, including ISIS, controlled some transport routes"
ericsson.com/en/press-relea…

@granskning

Feb. 27: ICIJ, @granskning, @washingtonpost, @BBCNews, and dozens of media outlets published the #EricssonList, drawing on leaked internal Ericsson files and detailing probable terrorism financing, money laundering, and bribery used to win Iraqi contracts.
icij.org/investigations…

@TheJusticeDept

March 2: @TheJusticeDept informed Ericsson that it broke its 2019 deal (again) when the company failed to provide sufficient information about its Iraq probe. The 2019 deal to settle an earlier criminal investigation had cost Ericsson over $1 billion.
icij.org/investigations…

March 16: Ericsson removed its legal officer while claiming to promote a “speak-up culture” to encourage staffers to report wrongoing. The company promised investors in a conference call that it would “re-earn” their trust.
icij.org/investigations…

@spfreedberg

March 28: @spfreedberg reported that CEO Börje Ekholm faces a critical shareholder vote at the AGM, with two key analysis firms urging investors to hold the company’s leadership accountable.
That's today at 3pm CET (9am EDT).
icij.org/investigations…

So far, shareholders and analysts are yet to publicly ask Ericsson how the company can compensate a young Iraqi telecom engineer after he was kidnapped and terrorized by ISIS while on the job, effectively ruining his life. #EricssonList
icij.org/investigations…

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ICIJ

@ICIJorg

Mar 23

@nytimes

Why haven’t sanctions against Russian oligarchs worked in the past? And what’s different now?

@nytimes’ The Daily podcast tackled the question, citing a case ICIJ is very familiar with: Putin’s judo buddy, Arkady Rotenberg. #PanamaPapers #ParadisePaper nyti.ms/3NpKgn0

The Rotenbergs are among many Russian powerbrokers who ICIJ investigations have shown use the offshore system to hide their money and anonymously spend their billions around the world, effectively skirting the intended impact of sanctions. #RussiaArchive bit.ly/3L6PUID

@BuzzFeedNews

For example, when Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 and Arkady Rotenberg — a billionaire oligarch and childhood friend of Vladimir Putin, was sanctioned — he and his brother transferred substantial assets to their sons, #FinCENFiles show. (HT @BuzzFeedNews!) bit.ly/36nrKeb

Read 11 tweets

ICIJ

@ICIJorg

Mar 14

🧵 Russian oligarchs now being widely targeted with sanctions have featured prominently across several ICIJ investigations.

Here's some of the offshore dealings we’ve previously uncovered about political elites close to Vladimir Putin. #RussiaArchive👇 bit.ly/3oUP1dl

🔴 Alisher Usmanov

#ParadisePapers showed that a firm connected to the Uzbek-Russian billionaire provided a link between Russian state money and large early investments in Facebook.

Read more in the #RussiaArchive: bit.ly/3CEVaQP

🔴 Gennady Timchenko

#PandoraPapers reporting revealed a series of massive loans between anonymous offshore shell companies and a firm the oil magnate registered in Cyprus. bit.ly/3HanF9A

Read 8 tweets

ICIJ

@ICIJorg

Mar 10

@WSJ

The U.K. becomes the first Western government to target Roman Abramovich, billionaire owner of British soccer club Chelsea FC, in a raft of new sanctions against Russian oligarchs (via @WSJ):
on.wsj.com/3vWD5wi

Abramovich appeared in the #FinCENFiles and #ParadisePapers.

@rebaltica

ICIJ’s Latvian partner @rebaltica used #FinCENFiles to trace payments between Abramovich’s business empire and his former business partner Oleg Deripaska — also sanctioned by the U.K. today.

Much of his money flowed through Expobank in Latvia’s capital. bit.ly/3u5NuDp

@BBCArabic

In #FinCENFiles, ICIJ partners @BBCArabic and @haaretzcom identified Roman Abramovich as an anonymous donor who spent $100M bankrolling a controversial Israeli settler organization.

BBC also found the Russian oligarch had secret stakes in rival players. bbc.in/34uQLmG

Read 4 tweets

ICIJ

@ICIJorg

Mar 8

1/ As Western governments target Russian oligarch assets hidden abroad, it’s worth remembering: money doesn’t just hide itself in offshore accounts and shell companies. It takes a village of enablers. 🧵bit.ly/3hviIxN

2/ Here are a few of the many lawyers, offshore agents & banks that have helped Russia’s elite move, hide and invest their money — identified by ICIJ over nearly a decade of reporting on offshore finance. bit.ly/3hviIxN

3/ London lawyer Alastair Tulloch. His firm set up companies for Russia’s former Deputy Finance Minister Andrey Vavilov; billionaire oligarch Alexander Mamut; and Vitaly Zhogin, a banker wanted in Russia for alleged fraud. bit.ly/3hviIxN

Read 17 tweets

ICIJ

@ICIJorg

Mar 4

It’s been just a few days since ICIJ and 30 media partners published the #EricssonList investigation — exposing Ericsson’s ISIS dealings and a corruption spree in Iraq — but the telecom giant has seen a whirlwind of repercussions since. bit.ly/3vvuEri

U.S. prosecutors told Ericsson that it ‘breached’ its billion-dollar corruption settlement by failing to disclose misconduct in Iraq.

CEO Börje Ekholm said the #EricssonList was “hugely embarrassing” and defended the firm's steps to improve compliance. bit.ly/3szZ5uJ

The #EricssonList investigation has also had an immediate impact on the telecom giant’s share value.

Its stock price has fallen by more than a third since the company first disclosed it had received media inquiries about its Iraq operations last month. bit.ly/3Cf5Ipn

Read 5 tweets

ICIJ

@ICIJorg

Feb 27

NEW: The #EricssonList investigation uncovers the telecom giant’s years-long campaign of bribery and fraud in war-torn Iraq, secret dealings in ISIS-controlled areas and a pattern of misconduct on a global scale. 🧵

When ICIJ and 30 media partners began asking Ericsson questions about its operations in Iraq, the company didn’t provide answers but publicly admitted for the first time that it may have paid bribes to ISIS.

Leaked #EricssonList records reveal much more. bit.ly/3hleQiy

The corrupt conduct uncovered in the #EricssonList stems from a 2014 decision to continue operations in Iraq after ISIS fighters brutally took control of parts of the country.

How did the company keep up its lucrative business in Iraq? bit.ly/3hleQiy

Read 12 tweets

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