Greetings from Sarajevo,

The world may never learn the full extent of Vladimir Putin’s wealth. But this week the truth is closer than ever, as our latest investigation reveals an intriguing common thread among the valuable assets — including villas and yachts — that have been linked to Putin over the years. 

But before we share our latest work, we wanted to remind you to take our annual email survey. Your responses will help improve this newsletter and how we present our investigative reporting.

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Now, for the latest in global corruption,

UNCOVERING PUTIN-LINKED ASSETS

The Connective Tissue Between Several Putin-Linked Assets

Months of forensic reporting by OCCRP and our partner Meduza reveal that all the properties previously reported to have ties to Vladimir Putin have something else in common: The companies that own them are secretly interconnected. 

The companies — which are linked to Bank Rossiya, aka “Putin’s piggy bank” — use the same email domain, LLCInvest.ru. Read the full story. 

🌐 The Big Picture: Vladimir Putin has long denied any connection to the mansions, yachts, and vineyards that reporters have tied to him. Now we learn that $4.5 billion in assets — everything linked to Putin, but also businesses belonging to his allies — are owned by a group of companies that seem separate, but appear to be jointly managed. 

In the words of one expert, what we’ve revealed looks like a “cooperative” from which Putin and Russian elites can draw as they please.
 

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‘We Cannot Use It’: Leaked Emails Show How Russian Petrochemical Giant Sibur Paid For Villa Linked to Putin 

A beautiful villa sits on the Gulf of Finland. In 2016, journalists linked it to Putin, suggesting he uses it as a holiday house — and pointing out that the Russian petrochemical company Sibur had hung a banner outside its entrance claiming it was a “recreation center” for employees.

Leaked emails provide new evidence that the villa’s designation as a Sibur site was a ruse. 

They show that, while Sibur paid $1 million a year to rent the property, the company was not actually allowed to use the facilities. Some of its senior executives remained mystified by the arrangement, the emails show. Read the full story.

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Leaked documentation reveal the lavish details of a Putin ‘dacha’ on Lake Ladoga

On Russia’s Lake Ladoga is a building that sticks out from the humble timber huts that dot its shores. The ultra-modern structure, which locals whisper is Vladimir Putin’s “dacha” — the Russian word for a rural vacation house — is owned by companies that use the LLCInvest.ru domain. Leaked emails show that LLCInvest companies are building lavish new buildings nearby, creating what appears to be a luxury guesthouse and entertainment complex.

MORE OCCRP INVESTIGATIONS

OCCRP and the Miami Herald show how members of the notorious Maxwell family hid their fortune beyond the reach of creditors and legal adversaries. Read the full story.

🌐 The Big Picture: Questions have swirled about the source of the family’s wealth since the mysterious 1991 death of U.K. media mogul Robert Maxwell. His daughter Ghislaine’s recent conviction for trafficking underage girls to pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein cast a fresh spotlight on their finances. This investigation shows how some of the Maxwell fortune was kept away from prying eyes. 

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The U.S. and European Assets of the Vorobyev Family, a Moscow Political Clan with Close Ties to Defense Minister Shoigu

The Vorobyevs are an influential Russian political family with close ties to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. 

Though the family’s thriving fish business owes a lot to their links to the Russian government, OCCRP found that the money they’ve earned has spread across the world, including to a high-end children’s goods store in London, a luxury Paris apartment, and a U.S. private equity firm with investments in NextDoor and other companies. Read the full story.

🌐 The Big Picture: Andrei Vorobyev, the longtime governor of the Moscow region, worked closely with Shoigu, who essentially hand-picked him for the governorship. A source close to the presidential administration says Andrei is even whispered about as a possible successor to Putin. This investigation shows where much of his family’s wealth has ended up — in the West, under the control of his brother.

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New Albanian Airport Raises Cronyism, Environmental Concerns

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has promised a new airport on the southern coast would create jobs and boost tourism. But our new investigation raises questions about the process for choosing the politically connected consortium that will build it.

Environmentalists say the project will cause irreparable damage to one of the largest wetlands on the Mediterranean. Rama’s government has removed protections in part of the reserve where it will be built — a decision the EU said was illegal. 

🌐 The Big Picture: The airport is a political coup for Rama, cementing alliances with Turkey’s government and controversial Kosovar businessman and politician Behgjet Pacolli. But it’s unclear if the airport is even viable — and Albanian taxpayers will be on the hook if it fails.

THE OCCRP NETWORK

🇭🇷 Oštro HR: Our Croatian member center reported on the family vacation of the country’s finance minister.  Zdravko Marić and his family stayed at a luxury hotel for what appears to be a considerable discount from market rate.

🇱🇰 Watchdog: Our Sri Lankan partner has a fact-checking platform, where they verify or debunk the rumors that have been swirling during the country’s current economic crisis. Rest of World, which reports on global tech stories, profiled the project. 

🇺🇦 Slidstvo.Info: Our Ukrainian member center, whose website is now blocked in Russia, made a video about Ukrainians born and raised in Crimea who have joined the Russian war effort against Kiev. 

🇭🇺 Direkt36: The co-founder of our Hungarian member center published an essay in Nieman Reports about how journalists should conduct themselves when they’re being targeted by the state.

ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS

🇷🇸 Anniversary of Boško Buha Assasination: Twenty years ago, a senior Serbian police official, Boško Buha, was shot and killed in a planned terror campaign aimed at panicking Serbian citizens and destabilizing the reformist national government, which had taken over from Slobodan Milošević after the dictator’s ouster.

The assassins were tied to a Serbian-American criminal syndicate that eventually morphed into what we call Group America. You can read more about this global crime group here. 

🔫 Dangerous Trend in the World of Weapons: Shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile launchers are proliferating worldwide, according to a new report from the Small Arms Survey.

CORRUPTION NEWS

🇷🇺 Alexei Navalny Moved To Notorious Penal Colony: The incarcerated Russian opposition leader indicated on Instagram that he has been transferred to the IK-6 Federal Penitentiary Colony, considered Russia’s scariest prison.

🇰🇿 Kazakhstan’s Anti-Corruption Efforts Have a Long Way to Go: Despite Kazakhstan’s recent push to curb graft after historic anti-government protests, the country continues to be plagued by corruption, according to a new report from the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body.

OCCRP EVENTS

1) Aspen Ideas Festival: OCCRP Co-Founders Drew Sullivan and Paul Radu will talk about dark money and corruption with Bill Browder, a prominent Kremlin critic, and NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly. Tickets here.

🗓️  June 27 at 8:30 p.m. 

2) Investigative Reporters & Editors Conference: OCCRP journalists will be at two sessions at IRE22, which will be held in Denver. 

• Paul Radu and Pavla Holcová, founder of our Czech member center, at “Investigating the New Organized Crime”. June 23 at 10:15 a.m. MT

• OCCRP Senior Middle East Editor Rana Sabbagh at  “The Year in International Investigations.” June 24 at 11:30 a.m. MT