We dug into Cambodia's lost heritage and one of the world’s most elite & secretive trades — the antiquities market — with @washingtonpost & @FinUncovered.
Our latest search on the fate of allegedly looted relics led us to the pages of a luxury magazine. 🧵bit.ly/3w7xMJz
A 2021 @ArchDigest spread on a San Francisco mansion featured a photo of a lavish courtyard with several empty pedestals off to one side.
But our reporters discovered another version of the image showing ancient Khmer sculptures resting there. bit.ly/3w7xMJz
It’s unclear who modified the photo or why, but those sculptures match missing relics that Cambodian officials say were stolen from one of the nation’s most sacred sites years ago — offering clues in a global effort to repatriate 1000s of lost artifacts. bit.ly/3w7xMJz
The Khmer relics edited out of the 2021 magazine photo appear to have come from what’s been called “one of the greatest collections of Southeast Asian art in private hands” — owned by the billionaire Lindemann family. bit.ly/3w7xMJz
The Lindemanns have not been accused of wrongdoing, but have been contacted by U.S. authorities, sources say.
The Cambodian culture minister says the collection “should be repatriated as soon as possible.” bit.ly/3w7xMJz
The stalemate points to the challenges facing investigators trying to reclaim relics linked to looters.
Experts say private collectors and institutions can often acquire stolen art without consequences due to a lack of regulation and secrecy of the trade. bit.ly/3w7xMJz
Investigators say a key middleman in the decades-long ransacking of Cambodian sites was once-renowned British antiquities dealer Douglas Latchford — the subject of a #PandoraPapers exposé last year.
He was indicted by U.S. prosecutors in 2019. bit.ly/3mevlk1
Just last week, dozens of looted religious artifacts that Latchford sold to a U.S. museum and private collectors were handed back to Cambodian authorities.
Prosecutors urged others who may hold illegally obtained antiquities to come clean. bit.ly/3SRi5jj
To follow along our reporting on the global hunt to recover Cambodia’s lost heritage, and the secretive art and antiquities trade, subscribe to ICIJ’s free e-newsletter: bit.ly/3IIjBQr
And please consider making a donation to support our efforts! bit.ly/3QsqKHB
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Interpol has asked governments worldwide to find and provisionally arrest Isabel dos Santos, yet the former Angolan billionaire isn't hiding. Instead, she often posts about her lavish lifestyle at a Dubai residence.
Newly leaked Dubai property data reviewed by ICIJ for #DubaiUnlocked reveal that dos Santos and her mother, Tatiana “Kukanova” Regan, co-own an apartment in a building called Sadaf, Arabic for “seashell,” overlooking Dubai Marina and the Persian Gulf. buff.ly/3ykHpIP
The eldest daughter of Angola’s former president, dos Santos came under scrutiny by authorities on three continents after ICIJ’s #LuandaLeaks revealed how lucrative deals obtained under her father’s rule helped her become Africa’s richest woman. buff.ly/3UY5DBE
Did you miss the launch of our #SwaziSecrets investigation?
Catch up with the stories our partners worked on in this thread!
@amaBhungane, @AJEnglish, @FinUncovered, @OpenSecretsZA, @jeune_afrique, @TheAfricaReport, @MakandayMedia, @PremiumTimesng buff.ly/4dBIMTK
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