Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project

Monaco detained on Tuesday a Russian businessman for his alleged role in a billion-dollar art fraud case that lead to the resignation and arrest of Monaco justice minister Philippe Narmino, Le Monde reported.

In 2006, the first deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank, Andrei Kozlov, attempted to tell authorities in Estonia about a money-laundering scheme that had been created in the Baltic financial system. Three months later he was dead, age 44, and the scheme would later be revealed as the US$200 billion Danske Bankscandal, according to the Daily Beast.

Torture is widespread in police cells and prisons across Russia. A new analysis of court rulings shows what the perpetrators pay — if they pay at all.

Credit: Edin Pasovic / OCCRP

When investigating why Russian border guards refused to let a Tajik citizen leave the country, a journalist discovered that the FSB has been systematically using remote police stations across southern Russia as secret prisons. Victims are detained for weeks on petty charges, such as swearing in public.

Credit: Maria Tolstova

US authorities are investigating Danske Bank for money laundering connected to over US$200 billion that made its way through the bank’s Estonian branch into Europe, said Danske Bank on Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Justice indicted on Thursday seven Russian intelligence officers over alleged cyber attacks against the U.S. and its allies, saying they targeted the World Anti-Doping Agency, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency and a nuclear power company in Pennsylvania.

Finnish authorities detained this weekend three money laundering and tax fraud suspects and raided the premises of a Finnish company owned by a foreigner.

Influential Russian citizens including politicians and executives of state-owned companies received residence permits in Hungary through the country’s controversial residency bond program, according to a joint investigation by two OCCRP partners, Hungary’s Direkt36 and Russia’s Novaya Gazeta; and Hungarian news site 444.

At first glance, it appears an unlikely story thought up in a movie studio. In Russia, Aslan “Big Brother” Gagiyev is called the “No. 1 killer.” He was the architect of the “Family,”  an elite murder squad that killed dozens and included high-ranking law enforcement officials among its ranks. Novaya Gazeta reporter Roman Anin sat down with Gagiyev to hear his story.

Photo by Svetlana Vidanova, Novaya Gazeta.

In the lead up to the 2018 elections, states are planning to spend US$ 380 million from the federal government to secure voting systems and tighten cybersecurity following revelations that Russian hackers targeted electoral systems in 2016, the US Election Assistance Commission said on Tuesday.

Leaked documents reveal that Arron Banks, a wealthy businessman and the main donor behind the Leave.EU campaign in England, was offered a deal to join a lucrative business venture with a Russian gold mining company, the Guardian reported after obtaining the documents from the Dossier Center.

A Moscow court sent four people to prison for life and one for 20 years after they were found guilty of killing 17 people in roadside attacks around the capital over a period of two years, authorities said on Thursday.

Three Russian journalists were killed near the town of Sibut in the Central African Republic (CAR) on Monday, according to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Bill Browder, an American-born financier turned prominent human rights activist and Kremlin-critic, called on prosecutors in Estonia last week to investigate the country’s branch of Danske Bank for allegedly laundering billions in Russian money.

Two Ukrainian banks took part in a tax fraud scheme involving Russian government officials that defrauded Russian taxpayers of US$230 million, laundered them through various banks and fake companies and transferred them to the West, Ukraine’s Slidstvo.Info reported.

A Russian billionaire living in Greece has given hundreds of thousands of euros to Macedonian opponents of the country’s proposed name change. The recipients include football hooligans who have rioted in the capital.

Russian-Greek businessman Ivan Savvidi. (Credit: Alchetron)

Thermal imaging devices, such as night-vision goggles, are the eyes of a modern army. With their help, military operations can be undertaken even at night or in poor visibility.

Credit: Edin Pasovic / OCCRP

Two United States lawmakers called on President Trump’s administration to sanction Russian billionaire Vladimir Yevtushenkov and start an investigation into his corrupt business activities, Radio Free Europe reported Friday.

US authorities indicted a number of Russian and Syrian nationals on Tuesday for alleged money laundering and circumvention of US economic sanctions against Syria and Crimea through the use of front companies and falsified documents, the Justice Department announced.

Two journalists in Ukraine say they are on an alleged Russian hit-list but don’t intend to hide, Reuters reported Monday.