February 28, 2025

Greetings From Amsterdam, 

We’re shining a spotlight on Kyrgyzstan this week. We’ll start by exploring how Kyrgyz nationals are helping Russia bypass sanctions meant to cut off access to luxury cars — the latest piece in our Forbidden Stories series, which follows reporting by Kyrgyz journalists who have faced persecution. Then we’ll unpack the final verdict in a case against two investigative Kyrgyz reporters jailed on false pretenses. 

There’s also plenty of crime and corruption news in this edition of OCCRP Weekly. Highlights include the return to the U.S. of the Tate brothers — who are at the center of one of the world’s most visible human trafficking cases — and banking busts in both Lebanon and Brazil.

Reporting From Kyrgyzstan

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, the European Union, United States, and South Korea all instituted strict sanctions. Luxury cars were meant to be out of reach, with the EU banning the export of most vehicles worth more than 50,000 euros to Russia. 

But they haven’t been successful. 

A young Moscow-based dealership, Berg Auto, for instance, claims to have an inventory of some 100 vehicles with a collective value of nearly $17 million. Shoppers can choose from an expansive selection of brands, including Rolls-Royce, Tesla, and Porsche. 

New reporting by OCCRP and partner Forbidden Stories reveals that much of this dealership’s inventory is sourced by way of Kyrgyz brokers. 

The story started with a tip about Berg Auto to reporters at OCCRP’s partner newsroom, Temirov Live. After 11 former and current reporters from the investigative outlet were jailed in January 2024, OCCRP followed the lead. While we did not find evidence to substantiate the source’s initial claims, our reporting suggests that the dealership has been able to access European and South Korean cars with the help of suppliers from Kyrgyzstan. 

“It is complex, but everything is possible,” a Berg Auto salesman told an undercover reporter inquiring about a Porsche 911 Turbo. The European car would be sent by boat to Georgia or by plane to Kyrgyzstan, and then onto Moscow, he said. 

UN Comtrade data indicates that Kyrgyzstan’s appetite for cars from the EU has risen dramatically in recent years. Between 2020 and 2021, it imported just over $8.8 million worth of vehicles. In the following two years, that figure rose to roughly $730 million — more than 80 times the amount. 

“It’s not as if everyone in Kyrgyzstan suddenly bought a new car,” economist Carl Grekou told Forbidden Stories reporters. “It became a hub for vehicles heading to Russia.”

What’s more, about a third of Kyrgyz companies handling car and spare parts exports to Russia in 2023 and 2024 also had Russians among their shareholders, import records show. 

Contacted by reporters, luxury car brands said they comply with the sanctions against Russia and condemn third-party sales to the country. Neither individuals identified as Kyrgyz brokers to Russia, nor the Kyrgyz presidency, responded to requests for comment.

Read the full story 

In a case viewed by international rights groups as an attack on press freedom, two Kyrgyz reporters were handed final rulings of six and five years in prison on Tuesday. 

Journalists Makhabat Tazhibek Kyzy and Azamat Ishenbekov were among 11 Temirov Live staff arrested in early 2024 on charges of inciting and organizing mass riots. In fact, they were reporting on corruption in their country. 

The duo was sentenced to prison in October 2024. Two other colleagues were released on probation, while others were acquitted. 

The Tuesday ruling was in response to an appeal by Tazhibek Kyzy, Ishenbekov, and one journalist on probation. Neither of the two jailed reporters were brought to court, and the ruling — which is final — took the judge just 20 minutes to decide. 

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, as well as colleagues and family members of those charged have decried the case as an effort to silence free speech. 

Read the full story 

An Organized Crime Update

The self-proclaimed “king of masculinity” Andrew Tate got the green flag to leave Romania, and returned to the U.S. on Thursday with the help of President Donald Trump’s administration. 

Brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, who rose to social media fame for their unabashed dedication to misogyny, were arrested in Romania in December 2022 on charges of rape, human trafficking, and organized crime. It is one of the most visible international human trafficking cases. 

The dual citizens of the U.S. and U.K. were banned from leaving the country as their case made its way through Romanian courts. But upon Trump’s return to office — and amid much celebration of the victory by Andrew Tate on social media — his administration reportedly pushed Romanian authorities to lift the travel ban. The request was granted Thursday and the brothers landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, by private jet that same morning. 

Romanian authorities also unfroze all of the brothers’ bank accounts, and returned company shares as well as six previously seized cars, a spokesperson for the brothers told the BBC. 

Andrew Tate has publicly claimed to have brought in up to $600,000 a month by coercing women to perform sex acts on the internet. He said forcing women to work shifts of 12 hours or more was key to his success. 

The Tate brothers deny all allegations against them in both Romania and the U.K., where they face similar charges. Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, which granted their release, did not respond to requests for comment. 

Read the full story 

Global Crime and Corruption News

For more than three months, Georgians have taken to the streets each night to protest allegedly rigged elections that kept the Georgian Dream party in power. Those demonstrators have been met with violence and intimidation in return. 

Now, human rights advocates are calling on Israeli tech firm Cellebrite to reconsider a $2.4 million contract with Georgia that would renew access to — and purchase new — products used to extract data from mobile devices. 

The software was developed as a law enforcement tool. But it has also been used against journalists and human rights activists, as a recent report by Amnesty International pointed out in Serbia.  

Amnesty International is now among organizations expressing concern that the same might be done in Georgia, amid the ongoing protests. An Israeli human rights lawyer has urged Israel’s Ministry of Defense, which authorizes the export of Cellebrite, to block the new contract. Cellebrite has previously stopped sales to Russia and Belarus after similar humanitarian concerns. 

There is no evidence that Georgian authorities have used Cellebrite tools against protestors, activists, journalists, or political opposition members. Cellebrite did not respond to a request for comment. 

Read the full story 

Lebanese banker Marwan Kheireddine has long held properties in some of London’s most exclusive districts through a network of offshore companies in Panama. Collectively, they’re valued at more than $200 million. 

But he was quick to let them go last year. 

Bank al-Mawarid, a bank run by Kheireddine’s family, featured prominently in an investigation into Lebanon’s former Central Bank Governor Riad Salame, who was accused of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds. European authorities traced at least $150 million to Salame’s accounts at the bank.

In spring 2023, French officials questioned Kheireddine, confiscated his devices and passports, and barred him from leaving France. 

Just months later, Kheireddine removed himself as a beneficial owner of at least 15 offshore companies — including those that owned two U.K. properties purchased for 22 million British pounds in 2004, and 86 million British pounds in 2012, respectively. That’s according to records reviewed by reporters from OCCRP’s Lebanese partner, Daraj. 

The change shifted control of Kheireddine’s real estate empire to his brother, just as French authorities pursued money laundering charges against the banker. 

According to Kheireddine, the share transfers were “unrelated to the French procedure” — which he claims does not focus on him. Both Kheireddine and Salame deny wrongdoing. 

Read the full story 

Cyllas Salerno Elia Júnior, a Brazilian police officer who also owned the local 2GO Bank, was detained this week after a sweeping money laundering investigation revealed that his fintech company was likely being used by the powerful criminal group First Capital Command (PCC) to move illicit funds.

The investigation began in response to plea bargain testimony from a businessman who was accused of laundering money for criminals, and told prosecutors that fintechs were being exploited to do so. 

Prosecutors told OCCRP that their probe revealed 2GO Bank as well as another, Invbank, had opened shell accounts and used “individuals with no financial capacity… to carry out large transactions.”

Elia Júnior’s lawyer denies any wrongdoing. Invbank could not be reached. 

Experts say a swift rise in fintechs in Brazil without regulations to match their pace has made the country attractive to organized crime — and that the country is failing to comply with its commitment to the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, known as the Merida Convention.

Read the full story 

An OCCRP Event

Join us for an exclusive webinar on Monday at 10 a.m. EST/4 p.m. CET to explore how America’s waning anti-corruption stance impacts financial crime enforcement, corporate due diligence, and global policy. OCCRP publisher Drew Sullivan will be in conversation with an expert panel: Jodi Vittori, co-chair for Global Politics and Security at Georgetown University; Casey Michel of Human Rights Foundation; and organized crime author Oliver Bullough. 

We’ll be back next week with more organized crime and corruption news.

P.S. Thanks for reading OCCRP Weekly. Feel free to reply to this email with feedback, thoughts, or questions.