Hidden within a drab Damascus shopping center sits the unmarked office of Shorouk for Protection, Guarding and Security Services — an unassuming security company that raked in at least $11 million from the United Nations to protect U.N. offices during the Syrian civil war. Now, internal documents reveal the company was secretly owned by the intelligence services of former President Bashar Assad’s regime.

As the United Nations poured money into the firm, those intelligence services were engaged in a violent campaign to crush opposition.

#CaspianCabals journalists from over a dozen countries probed the Kremlin’s control and Western interests in a critical Russia-Kazakhstan oil pipeline, and how its influence and impact spread to Europe, the U.S. and beyond.

Here are some of their stories: buff.ly/49rSZAl Over the past two years, the Netherlands' oil imports from Kazakhstan have increased eightfold, ICIJ’s Dutch partner @nrc found, largely driven by sanctions on Russian oil. But the relationship between the countries' oil industries is “toxic and shaky.” buff.ly/3ZrXTbU

Since the 1950s, Israel Bonds, which sells bonds to fund Israel’s government, has evolved, increasingly courting banks and other institutional investors.

In recent years, U.S. states and municipalities have sunk billions into Israeli bonds. buff.ly/3SwnUUM Thousands of records obtained by ICIJ reveal Israel Bonds’ tight relationship with U.S. institutional investors, and how some officials who buy Israeli bonds have had access to gala dinners, cocktail celebrations, and private meetings with Israeli leaders.buff.ly/3SwnUUM

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.

The country has remained her safe haven.buff.ly/3ykHpIP 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

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 @amaBhungane @AJEnglish @FinUncovered @OpenSecretsZA @jeune_afrique @TheAfricaReport @MakandayMedia @PremiumTimesng buff.ly/4dwsA61

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.

buff.ly/3ITH5mh
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

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.

Let's take a look back: bit.ly/479C9DM
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.

bit.ly/488EzUo

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.

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

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

bit.ly/45ks9GM 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.

@acharyapramod @katiemcque
bit.ly/45ks9GM

🧵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

1/ One year ago today, ICIJ published the #UberFiles, a global investigation that showed how the ride-hailing company lobbied politicians and exploited violence against its drivers to expand its reach. 🧵 ICYMI: bit.ly/3D8mCaM 2/ The #UberFiles came from a cache of company records that ICIJ and more than 40 media partners used to expose how Uber strong-armed its way into new markets. bit.ly/46KJ07F

Domestic workers seeking jobs abroad allege they are being preyed upon by employment agencies and loan companies.

ICIJ's new #TraffickingInc investigation shows how networks of Philippine recruiters and lenders allegedly conspire to trap workers in debt 🧵bit.ly/3JutCC3 2/ ICIJ found that the companies often work in tandem.

Recruiters charge hefty fees for coveted jobs in households in Hong Kong and Taiwan, then steer workers to their preferred lenders to pay, interviews and complaints to Philippine authorities show. https://t.co/qZQnfo1OU4bit.ly/3JutCC3

An underground network of suspected sex traffickers has taken refuge in the UAE, anti-trafficking activists and officials say. A new installment of #TraffickingInc, an ICIJ-led reporting collab, exposes broken systems that allow sexual slavery to thrive. 🧵bit.ly/43EO0IT 2/ Emirati authorities say any suggestion that the UAE “tolerates human trafficking or that it has little regard to the victims of this heinous crime is utterly false,” describing such allegations as “baseless and without foundation.” #TraffickingInc bit.ly/43EO0IT

Happy #PanamaPapers anniversary! Often we take these moments to tell you how the investigation led to laws changed, bad folks arrested, money recovered, etc. But this year, we took a different measure of impact… 🧵 1/14 On a personal note (@hamishbr here at the controls), I remember being caught by surprise in the days after the #PanamaPapers by the protests and the resignations... But what really surprises me *now* are the ways the investigation has infiltrated everyday life and culture. 2/14

What’s ICIJ’s newest investigation, #DeforestationInc, all about? A thread 🧵 (1/12): #DeforestationInc, starts with the products that are ubiquitous in our daily lives — the paper towels in our kitchens, the timber furniture in our homes, the cardboard boxes goods are transported in. All these items can be traced back to forests. (2/12)

This year, ICIJ published more investigations than ever before – some were based on new leaks, others responded to unfolding global news events, and many dug into patterns and topics to emerge from past ICIJ projects.

🧵Here’s a recap of our top stories:
bit.ly/3VipDvJ When Russia’s war on Ukraine sparked an unprecedented campaign of sanctions against allies of Vladimir Putin, ICIJ reporters mined the #PandoraPapers and other offshore leaks to uncover secret money maneuvers used to secure the wealth of oligarchs and more.bit.ly/3x7MykS

NEW: US-style deals that allow big companies to pay to avoid criminal prosecution have spread around the world — and so has a pattern of repeat corruption offenses, an ICIJ investigation has found. 🧵bit.ly/3uRmQik Our analysis shows that over the last two decades, more and more countries have turned to American-inspired leniency deals to punish corporations for alleged bribery, corruption and other crimes. bit.ly/3uRmQik

NEW in #ShadowDiplomats: Since Putin became president, Russia has built a faithful network of honorary consuls embedded around the world including some who’ve supported contentious Kremlin campaigns like the invasion of Ukraine, ICIJ and @propublica found. bit.ly/3HawP9I By embracing a largely unregulated system of international diplomacy, Russia helped grant protections and diplomatic credentials to a new class of well-connected elites across six continents — quadrupling its ranks of honorary consuls in a decade. bit.ly/3HawP9I

NEW: #ShadowDiplomats exposes the global scale of misuse and exploitation of a little-known role in international diplomacy called honorary consuls, undermined by alleged criminals.

Investigated by ICIJ, @propublica and 160 journalists in 46 countries. 🧵 bit.ly/3hAFpUp Founded centuries ago, the honorary consul system was meant as a lifeline for countries unable to afford foreign embassies but has since broadened into a mainstay of international relations, embraced by a majority of the world’s governments. bit.ly/3UTbZ2m

Nearly 28 million people around the globe are estimated to be trapped in jobs so oppressive that they amount to modern slavery.

#TraffickingInc, a new ICIJ reporting collab, examines what is said to be the world’s fastest growing criminal enterprise. 🧵bit.ly/3FpMW2s 2/ #TraffickingInc uncovers the people, companies, and business practices that draw profit from different forms of coerced labor across borders — and the well-known employers and entities that human trafficking is linked to. bit.ly/3DhXk9y