This guy, Mark Lombardi, was a famous artist who believed a hidden network of powerful individuals ruled the world. But he’d die before he could prove it. 1/ Lombardi created art that looked like this. He claimed it showed the links between dark networks that controlled governments: politicians, banks, arms dealers.

This guy, Fat Leonard, just got 15 years in jail for a decades-long scandal in which he bribed US Navy admirals with prostitutes, Cristal, and Chanel handbags for their wives. What happened to the admirals you might ask? In 2021, Project Brazen smuggled a microphone to Leonard, who was in detention in San Diego, awaiting sentencing. He’d pleaded guilty but was furious Navy admirals had got off scot-free, and so he talked for our Fat Leonard podcast. podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/fat…

One of the largest chemical attacks in U.S. history was on a Furries convention. Scores of Furries —humans dressed as cats, dogs and lions — were hospitalized after a chlorine gas bomb (the kind used in WWI) was detonated at a Chicago hotel. But the culprits were never found. 1/ No one seemed to care about the Furries getting attacked. They’re just weirdos, right? Here’s Mika on Morning Joe falling about laughing at the attack. 2/

Fat Leonard, a military contractor known for organizing and filming orgies involving senior U.S. Navy admirals, is on his way back to San Diego to face sentencing for corruption over a year after he fled to Venezuela. /thread It’s one of the US’s worst ever national security breaches. For years, Leonard arranged prostitutes for some of the Navy’s top admirals. In return, he bilked the Navy of millions by overcharging for fuel, food and security. He lived in this $40 million house in Singapore!

The Italian mafia stole this masterpiece by Caravaggio in 1969 from a church in Sicily. Today it's worth $100 million and one of the world's most wanted paintings. It has become a symbol of the mob's power over the state. Now, one desperate man is trying to get it back. 1/6 William Veres, a British art dealer, was arrested in 2018 for trafficking in stolen art and given a deal by Italy's anti-mafia police: find the Caravaggio and be spared 20 years in jail. 2/6

In 1993, Michael Jackson knew a bombshell was coming. So he escaped to Bangkok, where he got involved in a standoff with Thailand's royal family. For this and other never-before-heard stories, listen to NIGHT OF SHOW on @ApplePodcasts Subscribe 👉: apple.co/night-of-show 🧵 1/9 MJ knew the LAPD was about to announce investigations into the first ever sexual abuse allegations against him. So he left the US two weeks early for Bangkok, where he was due to kick off the Asian leg of the "Dangerous" world tour. 2/9

When the saxophonist Kenny G snapped a photo with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in 2014, China's government branded him a spy. To get out of the fix, Kenny put in a call to pro-Beijing actor Jackie Chan ...🧵 To understand this crazy story, you've got to know that Kenny G is perhaps the best known Western artist in China. His song, "Going Home" comes on when shopping malls close and when planes land. Adam Wilkes, Kenny's promoter, was on a plane once with Kenny...

In 1983, James Watt, President Reagan's moralizing interior secretary, banned The Beach Boys from playing July 4th on the Mall. The band was furious, but they turned the situation to their advantage ...🧵 Nancy Reagan had just launched her "Just Say No to Drugs" campaign. And so James Watt tried to suck up to her, banning The Beach Boys and other undesirable elements from playing a July 4th free concert in DC.

Terrible for the Met. Cambodian master dancer Sophiline Cheam writes in @hyperallergic about her protest in Met: “About two minutes into my brief dance a member of the museum’s security team approached me and stated that I wasn’t allowed to dance.” hyperallergic.com/809442/met-mus… 🧵 “But in that trancelike state, I was unprepared to be interrupted. In fact, in my over 40 years of dancing, no one has ever told me to stop. Though I obliged without protest, I was thrown off balance,” Sophiline writes in @hyperallergic. See the moment here:

BREAKING: Fugitive Jho Low controls $333 million via a British Virgin Islands company that has offices in the iconic Shanghai World Financial Center! Is this where he goes to work? Listen here:
Jho Low is hardly hiding! "Grace Zenith" a Low-controlled BVI with $333 million in subscribed capital, has an office at Room 2801-01, 28th Floor, Shanghai World Financial Center, documents show.

Fat Leonard was heading to Russia after entering Venezuela via Mexico and Cuba after going on the run 18!days ago, according to the Insta account of this Venezuelan Interpol official. Why Russia? Well it's involved in a proxy war with the US in Ukraine. Leonard would have been an amazing asset. He has sexual kompromat (videos and photos of Navy officers in orgies) stored away, as he told me for our podcast. Listen to this audio clip:

Waiting for CNN, Fox, MSNBC to take on Fat Leonard story: the incompetency that led to his escape and the Navy coverup of the past decade. 🦗 🦗 🦗 Story has been woefully underplayed, but it’s changing…Now we’ve located him in Venezuela, on the run, what happens next? Listen on @ApplePodcasts podcasts.apple.com/sg/podcast/fat…

BREAKING: Fat Leonard, who escaped from U.S. custody two weeks ago, is in Venezuela with his eldest son, likely on way to Brazil, according to a report in @WhaleHunting_. Sign up for free to read: whalehunting.projectbrazen.com/we-reveal-fat-… Leonard was set to be sentenced Thursday for his role in a $35 million scandal to defraud the U.S. Navy. But he fled on Sept. 4, cutting his GPS ankle device and leaving his house in San Diego (center).

THE FUGITIVES OF PENANG. Last year I was able to smuggle a microphone to Fat Leonard for our podcast. Now he’s managed to escape detention in the U.S. First Jho Low, now Leonard is on the run! sandiegouniontribune.com/news/courts/st… Leonard was a cooperating witness for seven years (in the largest ever US Navy bribery scandal) and he must have gotten nervous waiting for his sentencing, which is only days away.

Another quick story on Rosmah, before we move on, this time about how she used the UN and charity to burnish her image, all while stealing millions. In Sept 2016, the UN was going to honor Rosmah with an award at a gala dinner at the Met in New York for her work with a children’s charity.

How will history remember Rosmah? Here’s some context for Chanel.

https://twitter.com/tomwrightasia/status/1562094875453149189

A phone call I made to a Malaysian businessman after Rosmah’s apartment was raided in 2018 sums up how she was able to get so exorbitantly rich. This will take a few tweets. Remember the 567 handbags found in her apartment in KL? Well this businessman’s name was on a bunch of the boxes stuffed with Birkins. He’d given them as a gift, and he was frantic.

In 2019, on the run from Malaysian and U.S. authorities, Jho Low enjoyed a trip to Shanghai Disneyland with friends. Evidence is pouring in: #whereisjholow Here’s another photo, from a Malaysian government source. Jho Low carried out the largest fraud in history, but he’s still free. We explain our search:

Guys! Bradley and I reveal the first evidence of Jho Low’s whereabouts on our YouTube channel. Much more to come! We’ll add videos weekly and I’ll post Jho Low photos here later. Subscribe:

#whereisjholow Shanghai Disneyland 2019.

In all the years covering Najib, his 2014 trip to a Chanel store in the Ala Moana Center best captures his nature. He was visiting Obama in Hawaii, but had to go home to Malaysia because of floods. His wife was angry for cutting her holiday short… So Najib took Rosmah to the Chanel store to buy her a $130k piece of jewelry, a birthday gift. To pay he used a credit card that was taken care of by Jho Low (and paid for out of Malaysian state funds).

Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak is jailed, seven years after we broke the story about $681 million in his private accounts. Click below for my and @bradleyhope's thoughts:
whalehunting.projectbrazen.com/najib-is-sent-… @bradleyhope First point: Malaysia is only one of two nations to jail anyone in the 1MDB scandal (the other is Singapore). Malaysia has its issues but its system has held.