A Russian cellist and childhood friend of Vladimir Putin received at least $69 million from Troika Laundromat companies. He earned $11.6 million from cancellation fees for 16 consecutive stock deals.
Read more: Money for Nothing: Putin Friend Sergei Roldugin Enriched by Troika Laundromat
In “Cement’s Dirty Business,” OCCRP journalists travel across Europe to show how Romania’s $750 million cement industry now runs largely on trash, sometimes smuggled in from foreign countries with little regard for health or safety.
Read more: Cement's Dirty Business
Perhaps one of the most powerful tales of the Troika Laundromat comes from a dead man: a Viennese lawyer who regretted his involvement in the scheme — and whose body turned up in an Austrian forest.
Read more: Death in Vienna
Laundromats are complex systems for moving money that allow corrupt politicians, organized crime figures, and wealthy businessmen to secretly invest their ill-gotten millions, launder money, evade taxes, and fulfill other goals.
Read more: The Troika Laundromat
Calabrian expat Antonino Vadalà was already a wealthy man with a successful cattle business in Slovakia when he bought his way into the ‘Ndrangheta, Italy’s most powerful mafia, and opened a new cocaine-trafficking route into southern Europe. Here’s how he did it — and how the cops shut it down.
Read more: The Cocaine Cowboys
One year ago, a killer snuffed out the lives of an investigative journalist working on one of the biggest stories of his career and the woman he intended to marry. In day-by-day detail, OCCRP outlines how the assassinations transpired and what happened in the aftermath.
Read more: How Ján and Martina Died
One year ago, a former policeman slipped into the home investigative journalist Ján Kuciak shared with his fiancee, Martina Kušnírová, and shot them both at close range, authorities say.
Read more: Unfinished Lives, Unfinished Justice
Nenad Popovic, a nationalist Serbian minister known for his ties to the Kremlin, took part in a dubious privatization that drove a major electrical transformer manufacturer into bankruptcy. Years later, no charges have been filed.
Read more: Disastrous Privatization by Influential Serbian Minister Goes Uninvestigated
For almost a decade, corrupt politicians and wealthy businessmen have purchased European passports using dirty money. In January, the European Commission finally delivered its response. But rather than urging action, many of its toughest demands were withdrawn.
The flag of Cyprus, reimagined for the island country’s new investor citizens. Photo: Edin Pasovic / OCCRP
Read more: Strongest Measures Axed in EU Golden Visa Report
Prosecutors say an organized crime group tied to Liviu Dragnea, Romania’s most powerful politician, set up a cross-border fraud scheme that deprived the Romanian state of more than €1 million over a two-year period.
Read more: Romania ‘Snowball’ Scam Deprives Government of Over €1 Million in VAT Revenues
