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Hello John,
It’s been called a regime change — but the regime didn’t change. Nicolás Maduro may be out in Venezuela, but his vice president Delcy Rodríguez appears to be firmly in charge, and even ratcheting up the country’s repressive machinery. The Trump administration, eager to get U.S. oil companies back on the ground, seems to think she’ll cooperate. They may be right. But — even leaving aside the question of what this will mean for ordinary Venezuelans — the realities of operating in Venezuela may prove extremely challenging for American businesses willing to participate. As OCCRP’s reporting on Venezuela has shown, decades of rule by Hugo Chávez and his successor Maduro have not only wiped out the country’s democracy, but turned it into a classic rentier state: Any significant revenue streams have been captured by corrupt and even sinister actors. |
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| First and foremost is PDVSA, the state oil company. In a single investigation, based on one leak, we revealed 25 accounts at a major Swiss bank that held at least $273 million tied to four separate PDVSA corruption schemes. The story shows how elite Venezuelans who raised due-diligence red flags freely moved their money through Switzerland and other jurisdictions, creating exposure for everyone they dealt with. Another investigation found major holdings in Luxembourg tied to a businessman whose associate is wanted for allegedly laundering billions from PDVSA. Our reporters have also traced the breakdown of Venezuela’s energy grid to corruption in electricity contracting. More than capital, the bottleneck in the country is functioning governance. And let’s not forget the armed forces. In our investigative project Revolution to Riches, OCCRP documented how the state bought the military’s loyalty by granting hundreds of state contracts to companies linked to army generals. These people — essential to the survival of the regime — aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Read on below for more of OCCRP’s reporting on Venezuela. |
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| The analysis above is a free preview of our upcoming OCCRP PRO membership, a new offering tailored to professionals who rely on our investigations for work in finance, law, compliance, risk management, policy, and related fields. Interested to learn more? Let us know and tell us what you need! Your feedback will directly shape the services we build. |
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| | | From Caracas to Madrid, Millions of Phones Buzzed the Night Maduro Fell |
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| At 2:10 a.m. on January 3, as much of Caracas slept off New Year’s celebrations, a message lit up a WhatsApp group connecting Venezuelans at home and abroad. “Friends. Urgent. They are attacking. Planes are flying over.” A minute later, someone replied: “Explosions.” At around 5:30 a.m. came the bombshell announcement: U.S. president Donald Trump confirmed Maduro had been captured and taken from the country. At a press conference later that morning, Trump said the U.S. would “run” Venezuela. |
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| The middle-of-the-night raid has pushed the country into a phase of major uncertainty. Addressing the United Nations Security Council this week, Secretary General António Guterres voiced concern over “the possible intensification of instability in the country, [and] the potential impact on the region.” For many Venezuelans, Maduro’s ouster initially elicited hope of a brighter future for a country that has endured crippling economic and humanitarian crises under his repressive rule. But as Valentina Lares, the editor of Armando.info, explains, that enthusiasm soon gave way to fear about Trump’s intentions, and the possibility that “we can actually be stuck [with] a regime that can survive perfectly only by bending to the wishes of Trump.” “The big question, the big ‘if’ in Venezuela [is] if Trump is willing to accept a totalitarian regime in exchange for resources,” she says. Read the full story → |
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| | | OCCRP Staff Share Their Favorite Stories From Last Year |
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| Inside Italy’s Fight to Break the Mafia’s Grip on Families
“While photographing Sicilian neighborhoods, I could sense a strong tension in the air. Even in places full of children, there was a feeling that something shouldn’t be shown or uncovered, a reality people wanted to keep hidden."
— Erika Di Benedetto, Photo Editor |
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| Searching For a Secret Narcotrafficking Airstrip in Paraguay’s Wild Forests
“The clandestine airstrip in the Chaco was an incredible challenge, but thanks to the patience and vision of the editors, we were able to push it forward and show a fundamental element that reveals how the Paraguayan Chaco is an important hub in illegal trafficking in the region.”
— Aldo Benítez, Paraguay Reporter and Editor |
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| | Social media editor Ekaterina Selivanova said the South Pacific Ponzi King story struck a personal chord. She grew up in Russia in the 1990s and saw her grandmother’s life savings wiped out by hyperinflation. Her generation learned early that saving was unsafe — you had to invest. But after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many of those who left the country found their investments frozen by sanctions. “What unsettled me most wasn’t the ‘king’ himself,” she said. “It was a smaller figure: a U.S. financial adviser whose trust in the global financial system had collapsed so completely that he believed his and his clients’ money was safer in a currency supposedly backed by untapped gold beneath Bougainville — as promised by the Ponzi king.” “I often see commenters on social media dismiss scam victims from our reporting as careless or naive,” she said. “I’m almost glad for those commenters. I hope they never had to make financial decisions out of fear — or desperation.” |
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| Best Of The Rest:
Inside the Global Online Betting Empire of a Slain Turkish Cypriot Businessman
“Reporters spent 20+ hours interviewing the slain mobster's jailed ex-accountant, then spent months verifying his claims by obtaining unlicensed betting site registrations, blockchain records, court filings and indictments, intelligence reports, and leaked Dubai property records.”
— Tom Stocks, Investigative Editor Belgium Blocked $270B Due To Russian Sanctions. Much of It Belongs to Unsanctioned Investors
“Amid ongoing attempts to use frozen Russian funds to support Ukraine, this story pointed out a major flaw in the proposed plan: much of the money belongs to investors who are not sanctioned, and have no ties to the Kremlin. About $270 billion worth of blocked transactions and frozen assets are held in Belgium, where authorities warned that confiscating them could lead to an avalanche of lawsuits.”
— Jared Ferrie, Senior Editor After Sierra Leone's President Took Office, His Wife and Her Family Went Real Estate Shopping
“The Gambia, just like many other African countries, does not have a detailed real estate registry that is digitally accessible. The reporter had to rely on shoe-leather reporting. There had been rumour in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, that the first lady had been purchasing property in the Gambia but no one had confirmed the facts then. So the reporter had to go to several offices and traveled from Freetown to the Gambia and London … It was a painstaking fact-gathering process.”
— Chikezie Omeje, Africa Editor Trail of Drug-Linked Planes Leads Back to California Seller – and U.S. Aviation Regulatory ‘Blind Spot’
"I found this meticulous report by Jonny Wrate and Kevin Hall an illuminating window into the secretive world of private jet sales. By focusing on a prominent US-based broker, the reporters were able to connect the dots between how planes are acquired and then, in some cases, used for illicit drug trafficking. The story exposes a glaring loophole in US regulation that allows transactions to be effectively anonymous."
— Matt Drange, U.S. Investigative Editor These 81 Investment Platforms Were Part of a Scam Network. Here’s What We Learned About Them
“This one was a challenge to get right, but I'm proud of this scrollytelling presentation of the 81 scammy "trading platforms" at the heart of the Scam Empire project. Margeaux [Farrar] did a really great analysis of the patterns behind them, and we came up with an engaging way of presenting them that really communicates to readers exactly how scammy these investment sites are, and how they could be identified. News you can use!”
— Ilya Lozovsky, Senior Editor Why Are Some European Drug Gangs Burying Cocaine Instead Of Selling It?
“It is always enriching to work with others and think about what we can contribute to the project. We learn from others and want to share our findings to reinforce the argument and give it a diversity of voices.”
— Sana Sbouai, North Africa Editor |
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| Stories Have Impact
The Scam Empire and Bad Practice investigations were “absolute juggernauts,” said Chief Impact Officer Alexandra Gillies. “They drew on the best of OCCRP — difficult, creative data crunching alongside coordinating huge cross-border coalitions of reporters. Both have had enormous impacts, and more will follow in the new year.”
Gillies also pointed to the investigation of water pollution by Harita, a nickel-mining giant in Indonesia, as another favorite. “Despite relatively limited experience in the country, the investigation was rock-solid in its evidence, benefited from great partnerships with Gecko Project and Deutsche Welle who released amazing products thanks to our collaboration, and brought to life the real human impact of this deplorable corporate behavior.” “Finally, and perhaps less obvious, is a feature that explains why OCCRP and KRIK have, for a decade, chosen to report on the financial dealings of the Serbian finance minister,” she said. “For anyone concerned with governance in Serbia, this story provides a crucial service: it brings together evidence from individual investigations, and explains why they matter so much in the current political context.” |
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| | | Ousted Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has had his travel restrictions lifted, after providing statements to two high-level inquiries into violence during the crackdown on protests last year in which 77 people were killed, and a further 2,000 injured.
The head of Cambodia’s Prince Group, a sanctioned entity the U.S. describes as a “transnational criminal organization” involved in major scam operations, has been extradited to China and had his Cambodian citizenship revoked.
Syrian authorities are touting the seizure of nearly 500,000 captagon amphetamine pills in a bust against a drug smuggling and manufacturing ring in the city of Hama.
In Malaysia, a former army chief and his two wives have been detained by anti-corruption authorities over alleged involvement in a cartel linked to military procurement contracts. A further 17 company directors have also been detained for their alleged involvement in the scheme.
The Netherlands has halted joint anti-drug operations with the U.S. over the attacks on boats suspected of smuggling narcotics, and refused permission for the American military to use its base on the nearby Dutch island of Curaçao as it amassed forces off the Venezuelan coast ahead of the January 3 incursion.
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| | | | We’re hiring a freelance Senior Analyst for OCCRP PRO, a new service delivering actionable intelligence to professionals who need to stay ahead of evolving threats in financial crime and corruption.
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