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Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
@OCCRP
Jun 19 • 5 tweets • 3 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
NEW: A Peruvian prison held three leaders in major organized crime groups — including the Sinaloa Cartel and #GroupAmerica, a Serbian outfit w/ ties to intelligence agencies.

In 2021, they planned a jailbreak, the details of which we reveal today ⛏️ 🕳️ occrp.org/en/investigati…
What is Group America?

The global operations of this drug-trafficking group — which has origins in New York organized crime and rumored ties to the CIA — was exposed by OCCRP in 2020.

Its second-in-command, Zoran Jakšić, was arrested in Peru in 2016. occrp.org/en/group-ameri…
Jakšić was imprisoned w/ fellow drug barons from Serbia, Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.

It is unclear whether all four men knew each other beforehand.

But how Jakšić and the others ended up in the same prisons at the same time is a story of cunning and criminal serendipity. Image
🤔 The plan: Spark a riot after attacking prison guards.

Amid the chaos, Jakšić, the Sinaloa member, and a Brazilian gangster would flee by helicopter. Weapons had been provided — the group was just waiting for bullets.

The plan was ultimately foiled by an informant.
This #GroupAmerica investigation was a collaborative investigation with OCCRP, @KRIKrs, and @Investigacecz

You can find all of our Group America investigations here: occrp.org/en/group-ameri…

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More from @OCCRP

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
Jun 20
NEW: Leaked emails reveal how the Rotenberg brothers, two of the most prominent Russian oligarchs, dodged Western sanctions for years.

This is the #RotenbergFiles 🔍 occrp.org/en/rotenberg-f…
Who are Arkady and Boris Rotenberg?

The childhood friends of Vladimir Putin have become two of Russia's most well-known oligarchs.

But the oligarchs’ ties to Putin resulted in Western sanctions, putting their global business and property interests at risk. Image
To protect their assets from seizure by sanctions authorities, the Rotenbergs used opaque corporate structures with the help of trusted associates — like Russian businessman Maxim Viktorov.

This project is based on a trove of leaked emails from Viktorov’s company Evocorp. Image
Read 6 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 31
NEW: Belarusian tycoon Eduard Apsit is suspected of laundering tens of millions of euros in alleged criminal money through a notorious Latvian bank.

Latvian prosecutors suspect ABLV created a “laundromat” for Apsit to obscure the origin of the funds. occrp.org/en/investigati…
Who is Eduard Apsit?

Apsit’s “Clean World” empire spans Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. His firms have won contracts to clean the Kremlin’s concert hall as well as Belarus’s main railway.

His firms have also been accused of illegally employing migrants in slave-like conditions. Image
What's ABLV’s role?

ABLV was one of the Baltics’ biggest banks until it closed in 2018 after U.S. claims of “institutionalized money laundering”.

Latvian authorities noticed ABLV had moved Apsit’s money as loans via offshore firms in what looked like a “laundromat” scheme.
Read 5 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 31
NEW: Andrew Tate — the self-described "king of masculinity" — and his brother have made many bombastic claims about their wealth.

Today, the OCCRP network can confirm one of them...

...they've done business with alleged members of a Romanian mafia group🇷🇴occrp.org/en/investigati…
Who is Andrew Tate?

The former kickboxing competitor has gained a social media following in the tens of millions with content that promotes misogynist ideals.

He and his brother, Tristan, recently made int’l headlines when they were arrested for alleged rape in Romania.
Today’s investigation focuses on a claim Andrew Tate casually made in a 2021 episode of the "Your Mom’s House" (@YMHstudios) podcast with American comedians @tomsegura and @ChristinaP.

He said he partnered up with a couple of "brothers, mafia guys" in Eastern Europe 👇 Image
Read 8 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 26
🇻🇪 NEW: Little is known about the size of Venezuela’s murky gold trade.

Two investigations into smuggling schemes show how the metal was trafficked into Brazil, destined for the U.S., India, and the United Arab Emirates. occrp.org/en/blog/17676-…
2. Andrés Antonio Fernández Soto slipped into Brazil after he was convicted of gold smuggling in Venezuela.

After the US banned Venezuelan gold, police say he tried to route it through Brazil. Fernández was detained in 2021, but is now on the run.
3. Fernández, known as Toñito, allegedly smuggled the gold through the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima.

Every week, scores of Venezuelans arrive there, fleeing the economic crisis gripping their country. Experts say the crisis is also driving more people to gold smuggling. Image
Read 5 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 25
NEW: OCCRP obtained a leaked report about security flaws in Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange that was robbed of $71m in bitcoin.

Here’s what the document reveals about how the unknown hacker stole over 119,000 bitcoin in just over three hours 👇
occrp.org/en/blog/17670-…
Bitcoin’s value plummeted by 20% after the August 2016 hack.

Bitfinex’s owner commissioned a report from Canadian consultancy firm Ledger Labs.
A version of the report obtained by OCCRP found two of three security keys were stored on the same device, allowing anyone hacking it to gain access to internal systems.
Read 6 tweets
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project Profile picture
May 5
🇳🇬 Nigeria’s gov't claims “bribery on an industrial scale” helped an offshore firm win a gas contract and secure $6.6B in damages from a subsequent arbitration case.

The firm denies this, but here’s what company insiders described in this UK trial: occrp.org/en/37-ccblog/c…
2. In 2017, a London tribunal ordered Nigeria to pay $6.6 billion to 🇻🇬 BVI-based firm P&ID for breaching a gas processing contract.

But Nigeria’s government has appealed to the English High Court, claiming P&ID had bribed Nigerian officials and lawyers to work on its behalf.
3. The company denies bribery. But during the trial, P&ID insiders and a sister firm described unexplained payments to officials, sham invoices, and business with criminals.

That included payments by P&ID’s founders to two Nigerian oil ministry lawyers. Image
Read 4 tweets

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