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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
@OCCRP
Feb 17, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
NEW: A reputation management firm called Eliminia has helped drug traffickers, fraudsters, and other criminal actors bury online reports of their crimes via intimidation and search engine manipulation, leaked documents show.
#StoryKillers occrp.org/en/storykiller…
2. Among the firm’s customers are:

💰 Convicted drug traffickers José Mestre Fernandez and José Nogueira García

💰 Russian-Georgian mafia money launderer Malchas Tetruashvili

💰 Italian firm Area S.p.A – fined for illegally sending equipment to the Syrian government
3. Eliminalia buried articles on clients’ misdeeds by manipulating search engines with fake news.

After Area S.p.A hired Eliminalia, articles flooded the internet on everything from K-Pop to blockchain mentioning the firm’s name, drowning out legitimate news reports. Image
4. Eliminalia also deployed intimidation tactics against journalists - including the OCCRP.

In 2019, editors received an email from an official-sounding email claiming an investigation violated EU privacy law. Eliminalia used the same domain to send legal threats to others. Image
5. Eliminalia’s official owner is Diego “Didac” Giménez Sanchez, a 30-year-old who described himself as a self-made businessman espousing the “right to be forgotten” online.

He is linked to over 50 companies - including business partnerships with his own criminal clients. Image
6. Sanchez also owns shares in multiple surrogacy businesses in Ukraine, along with a man convicted of sexually abusing Sánchez as a child.

These firms are accused of falsifying documents to smuggle babies out of Ukraine, and trading children for profit.
occrp.org/en/storykiller…

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More from @OCCRP

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 14
Drug lords.
Notorious politicians.
Terrorism financiers.

In the gleaming cityscape of Dubai, some of the world’s wealthy + most wanted have taken advantage of secrecy, lax regulations & a hot property market.

Who are they? Come see.

Welcome to #DubaiUnlocked.
Using leaked data obtained by @C4ADS, we worked with @e24 to lead an investigative project involving 140 journalists from 74 media outlets to compile a global picture of who owns what in Dubai.

occrp.org/en/dubai-unloc…
Among Dubai property owners, reporters found alleged Australian cocaine traffickers, relatives of African dictators & sanctioned Hezbollah financiers.

We profiled 150+ real estate owners whose property ownership we believe to be in the public interest: cdn.occrp.org/projects/dubai…
Read 9 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 12
NEW: Since 2016, Azerbaijan’s electricity exports to Georgia have skyrocketed.

The market is worth hundreds of millions. Some of the electricity is used in Georgia, the rest is transited to Turkey.

So why is the trade handled by offshore companies? And who's behind them? occrp.org/en/investigati…
We found out. His name is Sulkhan Papashvili, one of Georgia’s richest businessmen. And the offshores are his.

But our reporters, along with @ifactgeorgia and @MikroskopEng, also found much more. Image
After he secured his deal to buy electricity from Azerbaijan’s state energy company, Papashvili went into business with the wife of its president.

And after that man was dismissed, the son of his replacement started making deals with Papashvili too.
Read 4 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 12
NEW: For 20 years, Baylar Eyyubov has been head of security for Azerbaijan’s authoritarian president.

Our reporters found that his family owns 3 posh mansions all on one street in north London, all held through offshore companies.

And there's much more. 👇
occrp.org/en/investigati…
In Azerbaijan, Eyyubov is close to the top.

Here he accompanies Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban to Ankara for the inauguration of Turkey's President Erdogan in 2023.

In the second photo, he can be seen opening the door to Aliyev's limo.
Image
Image
But though he’s been in this position since the early 90s — once fulfilling the same role for Aliyev’s father Heydar when he was president — he’s never had a high official income. His salary has never been known to exceed $22,000 per year.
Read 6 tweets
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

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