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May 15, 2026
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This week, new investigations reveal the colorful clientele of a New Zealand-based financial services provider, while leaked text messages offer an insider’s view on the day-to-day of an international cocaine-smuggling operation.


** New Investigation
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** Inside the Tiny New Zealand Firm that Transferred Millions for High-Risk Clients
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In 2014, businessman and former financial advisor David Hillary founded the financial services provider Worldclear in New Zealand’s fourth-largest city, Hamilton. With a staff of fewer than a dozen people, the firm operated from an inconspicuous office.

Hillary spoke publicly of its “state-of-the-art banking facility,” and touted its supposed backing from “major banks, accounting firms, and top-tier legal advisors” — all in compliance with “the highest security standards and [anti-money laundering] controls.”

Now, a leaked cache of documents obtained by Interest.co.nz and shared with OCCRP, 15min.lt, the Belarusian Investigative Center, and Expressen, sheds light on an operation that government inspectors found had failed to comply with several anti-money laundering requirements.

At the center of the investigation are internal documents, leaked by a former employee, which show how Worldclear targeted higher risk clients facing banking or payment problems.

Though there is no evidence that Worldclear or its staff knowingly facilitated financial crimes, reporters found that between 2014 and 2019, the firm processed millions in transfers for a colorful global clientele including a wanted American-Canadian who was later found guilty of wire fraud, a Belarusian oligarch close to dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko, and a U.K. citizen later convicted over Europe’s massive Cum-Ex tax swindle.

Worldclear’s founder, Hillary, questioned the validity of the government’s findings and denied any wrongdoing by himself or the firm.

Read the full story → ([link removed])


** The Crime Messenger
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** Another Day At The Office: Inside an International Cocaine Syndicate
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In September 2020, alleged cocaine kingpin Dritan Gjika texted a contact that the phones they were using were no longer safe.

Despite this, he and key interlocutors kept using their Sky phones for another six months — a move that would contribute to their downfall after police hacked into the encrypted messaging platform the following year.

OCCRP has now obtained hundreds of pages of Gjika’s Sky chat logs, which were filed by Ecuadorian prosecutors as evidence in a criminal case against him and members of the powerful cocaine trafficking network he allegedly led.

The chats reveal granular details about the daily logistics of running a cocaine empire, from infiltrating Ecuador’s ports, to handling international transfers of drugs and cash.

Gjika, an Albanian national who is now one of Ecuador’s most wanted criminals, was arrested in Abu Dhabi in 2025 and is currently awaiting extradition to Ecuador.

At least 17 others have been convicted in Ecuador of belonging to or aiding the same criminal syndicate. Four others were convicted of laundering the proceeds of the racket, making transfers of more than $43 million between 2015 and 2023.

Read the full story → ([link removed])


** The Crime Messenger
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In 2024, OCCRP published The Crime Messenger ([link removed]) , a series of stories which showed how organized crime groups used mobile phones from encrypted communications company Sky Global to facilitate their operations.

Reporters from OCCRP and 12 partners gained access to over 3,800 files from a major court case involving Sky, including police reports and chat logs, providing an unprecedented look inside these operations.


** More OCCRP Reporting
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** Nepal Charges Ex-Finance Minister and Other Officials in Widening Airport Corruption Probe
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Nepal’s anti-corruption authorities charged a raft of former officials for their alleged role in the loss of nearly $24 million in state funds tied to illegal deals with a Chinese contractor in the construction of Pokhara airport.

Former Finance Minister Gyanendra Bahadur Karki, several former Nepali government secretaries, and representatives of a Chinese engineering contractor face charges alleging that “national officials and employees acted in collusion with the contractor to misuse public assets received as loans,” causing a loss to the national treasury of approximately $23.9 million.

The case centers on illegal tax exemptions allegedly granted to China CAMC Engineering Co. Ltd. (CAMCE) during the construction of the Pokhara Regional International Airport, a centerpiece of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Nepal.

The charges come as part of a crackdown on graft from Nepal’s new government, which came to power after mass anti-corruption protests toppled the previous government.

Read the full story → ([link removed])


** UK Sanctions Brother of Slain Azerbaijani Crime Boss, Alleging He Plotted Attacks for Iran
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The United Kingdom this week sanctioned the brother of a slain Azerbaijani crime boss over his alleged role in plotting attacks on U.K. soil on behalf of the Iranian government.

Namiq Salifov — whose brother, Nadir “Lotu Guli” Salifov, led a notorious Eurasian crime syndicate before his 2020 murder — was among several individuals named in a new sanctions package targeting organizations and individuals who “threaten security on UK streets and stability in the Middle East.”

In a separate notice, the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) accused Salifov of involvement in “hostile activity,” including “threatening, planning or conducting attacks against persons and assets in the United Kingdom.”

Last year, two of Salifov’s associates were convicted in the U.S. over their role in an Iran-backed "murder-for-hire" plot targeting Iranian-American journalist and activist Masih Alinejad.

Read the full story → ([link removed])


** Balkan News Network to Be Sold to Orbán-Linked Fund in 30 Million Euro Deal
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The planned sale of a Balkan media empire to an investment firm with deep ties to Hungary’s former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has raised fresh concern about the creeping influence of illiberal governments over the press in Eastern Europe.

A leaked contract reveals United Group, the parent company of some of the region's most prominent independent broadcasters — including the N1 and Nova television networks, which have served as bastions of critical reporting in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro — is preparing to offload its media holdings.

While the final contract has not yet been signed, the draft designates a Luxembourg fund called European Future Media Investments (EFMI) as the official buyer.

However, details buried in the document—including notification addresses and key contacts—point directly to Alpac Capital, a Portuguese investment firm and its director Pedro Vargas David.

Alpac Capital previously acquired a majority stake in Euronews, a European broadcast network aimed at combating “left-wing bias,” in a purchase heavily financed by Hungarian state capital and companies closely allied with Orban, according to reporting by independent European media, including France’s Le Monde and Hungary’s Direkt36.

Read the full story → ([link removed]) ([link removed])


** Former Russian Official Charged With Fraud After Fleeing the Country
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Russian authorities have accused former deputy minister Denis Butsaev, who resigned and fled the country earlier this year, of embezzling funds linked to the state-backed firm he previously headed, Russian Ecological Operator (REO).

The latest target in Moscow’s crackdown on senior officials and state-linked executives, Butsaev has been charged with fraud "committed on an especially large scale.”

Two former REO deputies have also been charged in connection with the alleged scheme. The total amount allegedly stolen has not yet been disclosed.

Independent Russian political newsletter Faridaily reported that Butsaev traveled through Belarus and Georgia to reach the U.S. in late April.

Read the full story → ([link removed])


** OCCRP Video
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Last week, former Lithuanian Premier Gintautas Paluckas was stripped of parliamentary immunity to face criminal charges of holding unexplained wealth.

He resigned as premier last year after investigations by OCCRP member center Siena and broadcaster Laisvės TV triggered criminal and ethics probes and sparked street protests.

Read the full story → ([link removed])


** News Briefs
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* Earlier this month, German officials announced they had taken down Crimenetwork, a major darknet marketplace used to sell stolen data, cybercrime tools, drugs, forged documents, and money-laundering services. This week, officials revealed ([link removed]) the site was hosted on servers belonging to a company in Moldova.
* German humanitarian organization Sea-Watch alleges ([link removed]) that an armed vessel affiliated with the Libyan Coast Guard opened fire on one of its rescue ships on Monday, shortly after the crew pulled 90 people from an overcrowded wooden boat in waters north of the Libyan capital Tripoli.
* Several former and current police officers have been arrested ([link removed]) in the South Caucasus nation of Georgia in the first official action taken against law enforcement over the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2024.
* Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s former chief of staff Andriy Yermak has been ordered ([link removed]) into pretrial detention by an anti-corruption court over his suspected involvement in a scheme to launder roughly $10.5 million through a luxury real estate project — allegations Yermak denies.


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