Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

A money-laundering trial set to begin in mid-April in Italy has shed light on a hidden offshore operation that may have contributed to a major human rights crackdown in Azerbaijan in 2013.

EPP Political Assembly, Marseille 2011 - Luca Volontè (Wikimedia Commons)

Former president of Argentina Christina Fernandez de Kirchner and her two children were charged with money laundering and corruption Tuesday as part of a bribery scandal involving the family’s real estate company.

Spanish authorities said Tuesday that they have seized 503 properties worth US$ 740 million from the uncle of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and his relatives as part of a money laundering investigation.

Dutch and British authorities launched Friday major investigations into money laundering and tax evasion, coordinating raids in five countries and arresting two people linked to a Swiss bank.

When tropical storm Agatha hit Central America in May 2010, notorious Honduran drug traffickers saw an opportunity to launder their illicit money, the daily La Tribuna claimed in an exclusive report on Wednesday. 

U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Turkish bank executive with laundering hundreds of millions of dollars through American banks on behalf of Iran’s government and other Iranian entities.

Three years ago, OCCRP exposed the “Russian Laundromat” - an immense financial fraud scheme that enabled vast sums to be pumped out of Russia. The money was laundered and moved into Europe and beyond through bribery and a clever exploitation of the Moldovan legal system.

The Moldovan government accused Russian authorities of trying to obstruct an investigation into the role of Moldovan judges and other officials in the laundering of US$ 22 billion of Russian organized crime money.

Authorities arrested 12 people suspected of having made US$12 million by stealing electronics or printer ink cartridges from stores like Staples, Office Depot or BestBuy and then reselling them on Amazon and eBay.

A Southern California aircraft broker has pleaded guilty to laundering drug money and buying airplanes for Mexican cartels to ship narcotics.

Thanks to a tip off from a hotel worker, the Department of Justice has uncovered a complex network of international money laundering and fraud that authorities say conned over 170 people and six companies out of US$ 13 million.

A California bank must pay a US$ seven million fine for "willful violations" of several anti-money laundering rules, the U.S. government agency safeguarding the financial system said Monday.

Swiss prosecutors announced Thursday that they are investigating whether private bank Lombard Odier failed to prevent the daughter of former Uzbek president Islam Karimov from laundering money.

As part of Pope Francis’ efforts to clean up the finances of the Holy See, the Vatican announced it froze more than two million euros (US$ 2.1 million) in 2016 suspected to be linked to money laundering.

Authorities in El Salvador said they arrested 10 people for helping former President Elias Antonio Saca launder US$ 22 million of public money.

Irish authorities took to court Tuesday one of two suspects detained for investment fraud and money laundering worth €5 million (US$ 5.32 million).

Swiss financial authorities have ordered Scottish bank Coutts & Co. Ltd to pay back 6.5 million Swiss francs (US$ 6.57 million) of illegal profits made from transactions involving 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), the government-owned sovereign wealth fund embroiled in a corruption scandal.

Deutsche Bank said Monday it will pay US$ 625 million to US and UK financial authorities to settle charges that it helped Russian investors launder up to US$ 10 billion.

The former head of Nigeria’s National Broadcasting Commission and three other suspects pleaded not guilty to a NGN 2.8 billion (US$ 9.4 million) fraud charge, the country’s top anti-graft agency said Tuesday.

A former interior minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina charged in November with fraud vanished Tuesday after being released from pretrial detention earlier this month, local media reported.