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Drew Sullivan
@DrewOCCRP
Publisher/co-founder Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project - Cat wrangler of passionate but compulsive journalists
Drew Sullivan’s posts
Today is the anniversary of our friend Jan Kuciak and his fiancé Martina Kusnirova’s cruel murder in Slovakia. He paid the ultimate price to tell the truth. We will remember that day forever. Take time to remember them too. We will talk later on the good that has happened since.
Gennady Zyuganov, head of the communist party, announces today that Ukraine, Georgia and Kazakhstan have set up American operated labs on the border to blow harmful bacteria into Russia. These are increasingly dystopian and fantastical comments from RU. They are really psychotic.
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Germany's decision not to provide readily available, easy to use tanks to Ukraine reeks of fear, indecision and weakness. It's saying "yes you can bully me. I'm afraid" Germans today should feel some shame for their government.
I have no words for the sad death of Victoria Marinova, the Bulgarian mother and journalist who was raped, tortured and murdered last night. Our hearts go out to her friends and family. This is the third murder of an EU journalist in the past year. It must stop.
If Prighozin died today in a plane crash in Russia (we may never definitively learn the truth), the world is frankly a better place for it. He was simply evil. Whether he was murdered (it's likely) doesn't really matter. Organized crime bosses regularly kill each other.
The President of Serbia’s son seen again hanging out with members of the Kavac clan. When a reporter took a picture she was held by Serbian police until a Kavac gang member could meet her and express disapproval. Serbia is run by organized crime: krik.rs/novinarki-krik
. and editor was detained in Abu Dhabi where he was scheduled to speak at the #uncac, the UNs big anti corruption meetup. Not a promising start to the convention. He will be deported. The UAE has a lot of explaining to do about their commitment.
It says here I pissed on Serbia. Really? I think the pro-Vucic media is really pissed about my comments on ties between Serbian government and organized crime. Being a miserable propagandists for a wannabe thug is no way to spend a precious life. Quit. Go do something meaningful.
I think we should all remember those law firms, banks, registration agents and others that helped enable Putin and his inner circle. Swiss bankers? There is blood today on your hands. We need to get rid of the criminal services industry. They make autocracies possible.
International corruption leads to instability as has been made clear with #Azerbaijan and Turkey’s attack on #Armenia. #Aliyev and #Erdogan both face bad economies and disgruntled populations and need the nationalist appeal and war to keep people inline. It won’t work long term.
Here's a problem. You cannot just sanction Russia - you must similarly sanction ALL members of the customs union including #Kazakhstan, #Kyrgyzstan and #Armenia. Russians can import anything they need through those countries with no borders or barriers.
BIG impact from the Pegasus project and BAD news for NSO. Vice reporting Amazon has shut down the Israeli spyware firms infrastructure because of the Pegasus project:
Miroslav Marček confessed to killing Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiance Martina Kusnirova. He was sentenced to 23 years in jail today. The man who ordered the hit, oligarch Marian Kocner, is still to be judged. A rare case of killers of journalists facing justice.
AWESOME: Thank you all for the tips on Russian assets. One of them just confirmed one of our top most wanted assets. Oligarchs hide assets but regular people do the paperwork or interact with it. If you know of an asset, let me know. #Russianassettracker
Along with our partners looked at Swiss Banks in the #SuisseSecrets project. But we didn’t have data on Russian citizens. Switzerland has said it won’t follow sanctions on Russians. Switzerland likely becomes a critical cog for Russia and oligarchs to bypass sanctions.
Congratulations to the people of Serbia for fighting corruption by marching in the streets. Vucic is one of the most corrupt leaders in the region. Serbians don’t want their government to become another Hungary. Say no to autocracy and yes to media freedom.
Journalism is getting harder and harder. Four partners and friends of have been imprisoned and three are dead. I doubt any of these people signed up for this when they chose to be a journalist. Telling the truth has become deadly. What does that tell us about our leaders?
Tip to young journalists. I know times are hard but if you work for state sponsored propaganda pubs like Sputnik, RT, or Breitbart you are banned for life at OCCRP and many other quality media. Don’t limit your career.
We have made the decision to close our operations inside Russia to protect our employees. We will not stop reporting on the kleptocracy but increasingly there is little gained from being there and great risks to the freedom of employees. We will work with journalists outside.
As I feared at the beginning, the West would support Ukraine so it wouldn't lose but not enough to win. Spineless western leaders are still afraid of Putin and continue to appease the bully. Their is only one way to deal with bullies - you have to get in the ring and fight. twitter.com/apmassaro3/sta
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More than 75 OCCRP members worked on a project that will be published today (Sunday). Stay tuned. There are important stories.
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UPCOMING: Few are better at obscuring their ill-gotten gains than Russia’s ruling class. Assets seized thus far represent only a fraction of their true wealth.
So OCCRP, @guardian, and 25 other media outlets have teamed up to hunt down the rest. #RussianAssetTracker
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We at are calling for an independent investigation/review by the EU of the rape, torture and murder of Bulgarian mother and journalist #VictoriaMarinova. Why do we keep leaving investigations to the very governments who the reporters are investigating when they are killed?
Here is the story that got partner Roman Anin detained today and which angered Putin insider Igor Sechin and his wife so much. Please share with everyone:
NEW: Pandora Papers. Want to see a cool display of nearly $700 million in properties owned by the corrupt and autocratic Aliyev family (ruling family of Azerbaijan) JUST IN LONDON. As people suffer poverty in their country, they are obscene.
This is a photo of Serbian President Vucic's son hanging out with men connected to the Kavac crime gang. It's from a story about how the Kavac and another gang are murdering each other across Europe. But here's the interesting part. The govt is going crazy about this.Thread 1/4.
I am tired of media stories talking about attacks on & telling his life story. This is not about him. He’s just a convenient bogeyman for Orban, Trump and Putin. It’s about autocratic systems needing outside enemies to hide their inner rot and corruption. Don’t help!
I think I’ve got a few things to say about Swiss banks enabling grossly undemocratic Russian funds to flow freely.
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HEARING: Russia’s Alpine Assets: Money Laundering and Sanctions Evasion in Switzerland. We will hear from @Billbrowder, @DrewOCCRP, and @OTregub about #Switzerland's key role in laundering #Russian money & enabling Russian sanction evasion schemes. csce.gov/international-
46 reporters, editors, researchers, fact checker and tech people at worked over the past 8 months. Tomorrow they rest.
Господин Песков, завтра вы будете работать допоздна. Учтите это в своих планах, пожалуйста. 9 вечера по Москве.
A Ukrainian villager steals Russian armored vehicle. Not sure that happens much in war.
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The EU/US/NATO seem willing to support Ukraine enough to put up a good fight but not enough to win. Appeasement by another name. Bullies will bully until they’re stopped. Sacrificing courageous Ukraine for our weaknesses is a crime against humanity. Did we not learn from 1930s???
NEW: found hundreds of babies and minors owning Luxembourg companies. The concept of a company is so distorted in the offshore world that it is basically meaningless. We need corporate reform.
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Our colleague of is being escorted to the gate now in Abu Dhabi to await a flight back to Serbia. If this is how a speaker to a UN Convention on Corruption is treated, I have little faith in #UAE. Civil society is not valued and that’s a bad sign.
A massive explosion is being reported in Donetsk. That is the pre-planned provocation we have been hearing about all week. I think you can say the war has started. It just won't be clear that it has for 24 - 36 hours. This is the worst acted war start ever - 1/2 star for Russia.
We’ve now helped return over $6.3 billion to public coffers with Danske Bank sure to swell that number. A study by James Hamilton showed all investigative reporting returns over $100 for each $1 invested. Want to save taxpayers money? Pay for investigative reporting!!
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Investigative journalism delivers great return on investment. @DrewOCCRP @gijn @ICIJorg @fcomunav @IJNet newsentrepreneurs.blogspot.com/2019/05/invest
The West welcomed Russian oligarchs for decades. But they were always agents for Putin. The deal was I’ll keep you rich if you fund my machinations like funding Trump (Palm Beach mansion, hotels), extremist groups, wedge issues, etc. They were not just rich. They were dangerous.
I'm happy to announce yesterday was my last day as editor-in-chief of . I am stepping down after 15 years of editing the best and bravest journalists I have ever known. I will continue on as publisher working on ways to make the cross-border investigative ecosphere better
Here is our statement on the detention and interrogation of Roman Anin: occrp.org/en/40-press-re
The Serbian protests are not getting the media play they deserve. Largely because media is controlled in many of the countries in the region by state actors. But 3 weeks of protests against the thuggish, criminally connected regime is a good sign that protest is alive and well.
The team at appreciates the dozens of tips and hundreds of documents sent to us after our Adani story in India. We may not respond to everyone individually but we will look at what you sent. Sadly, there is more corruption globally than even 100 OCCRPs can address.
Here is this year’s OCCRP award winner: Danske Bank. They are representative of all criminal services organizations. Danske Bank, while sitting in one of the least corrupt countries, laundered hundreds of billions of dollars for Russia, Azerbaijan and other corrupt states. 1/4
NEW: It's a sad twist on a sad tale in Mexico. 43 teens were turned over by corrupt police to drug lords. They disappeared & are presumed dead. The parents just wanted to know what happened. But instead of helping them, the government bugged their phones.
Pelin Unker, a respected Turkish journalist has been jailed for her Panama Papers work. This is outrageous and shows the true colors of the Erdogan regime.
Maltese journalist #DaphneCaruanaGalizia was murdered before she could solve all of her investigations. Today reporters from . , and put one more mystery to bed: occrp.org/en/thedaphnepr
Article from BBC in Serbian about deportation from Abu Dhabi where he was scheduled to talk at the UN convention on corruption:
More stories are coming in the next few days. Stay tuned. Like #PanamaPapers, #ParadisePapers will yield stories for months to come
Indian media has speculated about 's donors and their influence on our work. OCCRP has more than 40 donors. I doubt they'd all agree on what stories to do even if we let them. We don't. OCCRP signs agreements with all donors that say we have total editorial control.
This is not surprising. Paul and Gabbard have mimicked Putin's words for years. Either they read the wrong conspiracy chat sites, are useful idiots or are paid by the Russian state. Neither of those options are very good. They don't represent America.
A new project is coming before this weekend is out. We are slowly, painfully prying back the secrecy of those in power.
Sadly, after 20 years of following global corruption and organized crime in the trenches,many people think what I say is rather hyperbolic. The truth is corruption is much worse than they think and I am actually holding back to not look totally crazy.We need radical transparency.
Our partner has lost a lawsuit by Bratislav Gasic, a former state intelligence official close to president Vucic. The frivolous lawsuit was based on the indisputable fact that he was mentioned in a wiretap between two gangsters who said Gasic was on their payroll.
The effect of over the past decade:
Official Investigations: 297
Official Actions: 339
Indictments and Arrests: 385
High-level Resignations and Sackings: 45
Corporate Actions: 87
Recovered Funds: $6.4 billion
All from places where people say journalism has no impact.
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It’s pretty clear that autocratic #Azerbaijan orchestrated the attack on democratic #Armenia but I can understand that you are not getting real news so you are ignorant of what’s happening.
Another example of scumbag English lawyers helping murderous criminal psychopaths attack honest activists/journalists doing accurate work. helped Putin pal Yevgeny Prigozhin sue Bellingcat’s and got UK Govt permission to do it.
I have to credit the people of Serbia for their growing protests. Media around the world must recognize this pure example of democratic action against an increasingly brutal and criminal autocratic government.
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HILARIOUS: A women sports a sign that reads simply "Two Words" referencing the phrase "No War." She is immediately arrested. A second women asks if she can say something positive about the war. The TV crew agrees and after uttering "I support..." she is arrested too.
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These are about a 150 foreign (non-Russian) assets owned by Putin's enablers. These are proven assets. We will be adding many more oligarchs in the next weeks and months. Many more we still can't confirm but we will keep trying. #russianassettracker
Our own irrepressible turns down an investigative journalism award of $250,000 -- because the donor is the Qatari government and that government is abusive toward investigative reporting and inherently corrupt. Nicely done, madam. jam-news.net/khadija-ismail
If they really want find all the oligarch offshore stolen billions - estimated to be more than half of all Russian wealth - they should give a tipsters finders fee of 5 percent. The whole world would chase it. But no payouts to the London lawyers who helped hide it.
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Don't call them fixers. Call them what they are - journalists.
It's our latest project with 22 partner organizations. See how a long running laundromat was set up by Russia's largest private investment bank. It helped criminals and the corrupt launder money, buy assets, evade taxes, etc. #troikalaundromat
As long as I’ve known Roman Anin and his fine team at I’ve always known him to be honest and very pro Russian. He loves his country. That’s why the Kremlin calling him a foreign agent today is so ironic. Russia has abandoned its true sons for greed and corruption.
NEW: Bucha was under seige for 33 days and more than 450 in the small town were murdered. We look at Block 17's internal chat group as they faced uncertainty and death. Where even a set of Christmas lights left on by a fleeing family could mean death.
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Swiss banks protect Putin enablers by either setting up trusts for them or allowing their bankers to serve as nominee directors of accounts for the oligarch’s offshore paper companies. This way there are no Putin enablers on the books. occrp.org/en/suisse-secr
Завтра выйдет в свет большой проект – обратите внимание в Украине, Азербайджане, Сербии и других странах. 8 вечера по времени Сараево
NEW: This is a really intriguing story. A email account seems to connect ALL of Putin's assets. Billions worth in Russia. And it all seems to be administered by Bank Rossiya.
This explains Putin’s larger strategy in Ukraine. No surprises but concise. Bottom line - he won’t give up and he believes he has bought out the weak-willed west (he actually said that) and can divide it through gas. Slava Ukraini!
My wish for the new year: Peace and prosperity for the people of Ukraine through overwhelming, crushing victory. For Russians, I wish for them to find the strength to overthrow their destructive rulers. For the rest of us I wish for the resolve to see both done. Slava Ukraini.
We’ve had the second biggest website traffic month in history after the original panamapapers. Growth rate is consistent/accelerating at 40% per year. Who says people don’t read complicated stories. They do if they want the truth. occrp.org/en
NEW: Our work with led to the seizure of another oligarch yacht. Sergei Chemezov’s yacht was seized in Spain. That joins the seizure of Igor Sechin’s boat the Princess Olga. The work of our journalists in the years of darkness is finally paying off.
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IMPACT: Spain temporarily seized a super-yacht that, OCCRP revealed, is linked to Sergei Chemezov, the head of the Russian state-owned defense conglomerate Rostec. #PandoraPapers
reuters.com/world/europe/s
NEW: Important! The real (and odd) story behind Putin’s envoy and his offer to Catalonian leaders: troops and Billions of dollars if they secede from Spain and become a cryptocurrency hub. Reporters identified him as diplomat Nikolai Sadovnikov. occrp.org/en/investigati via
Why is authoritarianism and populism growing? What's behind the new model? A lot of academics are working overtime trying to explain this. We at think we know the answer: Undemocratic Money. Thread 1/4
. is proud to announce it’s been labeled an undesirable organization in Russia by the Kremlin. You can’t tell from the website because various hackers are knocking it out regularly but here is the link. Partner was named too. minjust.gov.ru/ru/documents/7
Kazakhstan’s problems are due to both the inherent brittle nature of autocratic regimes and the massive theft of state resources by the first family and their friends. The protesters are underemployed Kazakh speaking youth deprived of work by a kleptocratic economy.
For #WPFD2028, let's remember our friends who made the ultimate sacrifice for telling truth to power and money. Freedom is not granted. It must be earned. It must be fought for continuously. Demand your right to know what is going on in your city, town and country. Support media
You're Sinisa Mali, the deeply corrupt Serbian Minister of Finance and you get caught by and other NGOs for money laundering and corruption, what do you do? Naturally, you start a money laundering investigation against them. Putinesque.
I sued Informer Magazine in Serbia for a typical piece of their malicious slander. Serbian courts ruled in my favor saying: "The plaintiff is not Mafiosa." It's sad things have come to this. They also said I wasn't a number of other things but there wasn't room on the T-shirt.
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We thank the dedicated journalists who sought hard to tell the real truth and to counter the murderous misinformation machine that is the Russian government. They are true heroes. The people of that great country deserve more.
NEW: Our latest on the #Russianassettracker. Today we look at Alisher Usmanov, a master of manipulating his assets.
Corrupt members of #Serbia’s parliament are now accusing of money laundering. I’ve known money launderers and they have in common LOTS of money. I’ve seen Stevan’s apartment. I think the money launderers are among the accusers.
The Serbian government has made an effort to place on one side of a bloody gang war by claiming they work for a hooligan group once closely aligned with Vucic’s government. Their goal may be to put KRIK “in the game” making them a fair target for murder. Very cynical/evil
It’s fine to blame our India story on a donor that provides about 4% of ’s funding. Me? I don’t like to be distracted by ideological propaganda when I seek the truth. Smart people judge for themselves- they don’t parrot BS.
What exactly happened to Jan Kuciak, our Slovak colleague who was murdered one year ago? You will know soon within the hour at . We’ve been investigating his death and while it’s been very hard to do, it will start the process of #justice4jan
OCCRP's co-founder Paul Radu was sued in London by an Azerbaijani businessman. After two years of money and time wasted, it was settled on the eve of the trial. and consider this settlement a victory for our reporting:
Our reporter first had a camera places in her house. Then she was arrested on trumped up charges. Now her phone for the last two years was an agent of the state - hacked by Israeli software likely bought by the Aliyev regime. 1/2
This is a fascinating story by our colleague editor Roman Anin from two weeks ago. He has faced criminal charges since related to another story. But this gives you a good understanding of the fundamentally criminal nature of Putin’s Russia
Today is World whistleblower day. The journalists at would like to thank the good people who make it possible for the public to know the truth that those in power would like to hide. We couldn’t do our job without them. Thank you!!
A citizen can support their government's stance on some things but not on others and without approving of the government. Khadija lost her cousin in the war and she has always been proud of her heritage. I don't understand why that makes someone disgusting.
It’s here! The winner of the 2019 Corrupt Actor of the Year is......(drumroll).......occrp.org/en/poy/2019/
Regarding Subotic: Ne brine nas tužba u Švicarskoj. I ranije su nas tužili korumpirani oligarsi. Naši tekstovi se temelje na dokumentima i dokazima.
We thank all of those people who wrote to Slovak authorities asking for our reporters phone to be returned. I am happy to say they finally returned it this afternoon. Thank you for your efforts. It made a difference.
Happy to be playing a big role in #PandoraPapers with , and others. More than 75 reporters have been digging and the stories, which will come out over the next 10 days will have major updates on the people we love to write about. Join us at 4:30 GMT.
You're , the deeply corrupt Serbian Minister of Finance and you get caught by and other NGOs for money laundering and corruption, what do you do? Naturally, you start a money laundering investigation against them. Putinesque.
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Oddly, Switzerland haspromised no new business for Russians but after two decades of banking oligarchs, there is no Putin enabler who doesn’t have a Swiss account if he wanted one. How does a Switzerland protect Russians?