Greetings from Amsterdam, 

December has so far been quite the busy month for the OCCRP network. Here’s a brief rundown of what we’ve uncovered. 

• Evidence that some members of a right-wing militia have worked in the U.S. government

• Shadowy businessmen who appear to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s interests in a Pacific Island nation

• The role the classical music industry plays in deforestation in Brazil

• A Syrian telecom company with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard

• A Mexican prosecutor accused of being on a gang’s payroll

We also want to share both good and bad news in the fight against dark money and corruption. 

But first, we wanted to thank everyone who attended our webinar yesterday. Our co-founders tried to answer as many of your questions as they could.

Anyone who makes a donation by Monday next week will receive a recording of the discussion. 

Now, for the latest in global crime and corruption:

NEW INVESTIGATIONS

🇺🇸 The Right-Wing Extremists Claim U.S Government Ties —  A leaked list of members of the Oath Keepers, a right-wing anti-government group, has over 300 people who identified themselves as former or current employees of the Department of Homeland Security and affiliated agencies.

🌐 The Big Picture: Our investigation was published as the Pentagon and DHS have each set up working groups to root out extremism within the ranks.


🧐 Our Data and Sources: OCCRP obtained a trove of internal Oath Keepers documents spirited away by a former member of the group’s inner circle, and partnered with the Project on Government Oversight to jointly analyze them.

The source of the data demanded anonymity because of ongoing federal probes.
>> Read the full story.

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🇨🇳 The Shady Figures Behind China’s Push Into Palau 🇵🇼 The tiny nation of Palau, population 18,000, has become a key hotspot for the rivalry between China and the West in the Pacific.

In this investigation, we expose several business people — some with links to the triads and the Chinese Communist Party — are part of China’s campaign for influence on the Pacific Island nation.


🌐 The Big Picture: Palau is a former U.S.-administered territory that regularly hosts American military exercises. The U.S. ally is also one of just 14 countries to formally recognize Taiwan; it does not have formal relations with China.

In recent years, China has convinced two other Pacific Island countries. Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, to break relations with Taiwan through aid and diplomacy.

Today’s investigation shows how China relies on proxies to do the same elsewhere.


🧐 Our Data and Sources: This investigation is primarily based on a combination of several interviews, hundreds of pages of company records in Palau, and files from law enforcement investigations.

In this investigation, we expose several business people — some with links to the triads and the Chinese Communist Party — are part of China’s campaign for influence on the Pacific Island nation.
>> Read the full story.

🇧🇷 The Brazilian Bow Makers Under Investigation For Dealing in Endangered Wood — For 300 years, classical musicians have played with bows made from brazilwood. But as the tree has become increasingly endangered, Brazil’s bow makers have turned to illicit wood to craft their wares.

The trade is a lucrative one. Sticks of brazilwood cost less than $8, but once crafted into bows they can sell for 300 times as much in the U.S., Europe, and Asia.


🌐 The Big Picture: In a bid to save the brazilwood tree, authorities are tightening the rules governing how it can be traded. But these efforts have faced fierce opposition from classical musicians, including stars like Yo-Yo Ma and Simon Rattle. 


🧐 Our Data and Sources: Our media partners Data Fixers and piauí analyzed records from Brazil’s environmental agency, court case files, and other official data obtained through FOI requests.
>> Read the full story.

🇮🇷 Iran Breaks Into the Syrian Telecom Business — Iran has long made clear its interest in Syria’s telecommunications sector, an industry critical for intelligence-gathering.

In this story, we uncover links between a key shareholder in Syria’s newest mobile provider, Wafa Telecom, and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.


🌐 The Big Picture: There’s no charity in geopolitics. Iranian officials have openly said they expected economic payback for their support of the Bashar Al-Assad regime.

Meanwhile, Syria's telecoms industry continued to generate revenue despite the destruction of the civil war. 


🧐 Our Data and Sources: This investigation was based on a registry document from the Damascus Free Trade Zone. Reporters also used corporate records from Turkey and Malaysia, where Wafa is registered. You can download those from the story. 
>> Read the full story.
 

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🇲🇽 Mexican Prosecutor Accused of Being on the #RivieraMayaGang Payroll 🇷🇴 When a former member of the ATM-skimming group — which we’ve dubbed the “Riviera Maya Gang” — was first attacked and later murdered in Mexico, the lead investigator concluded in both instances that the gang wasn’t involved.

But this Mexican prosecutor is suspected of being on the gang’s payroll.

🌐 The Big Picture: This is not the first public servant in Mexico to be accused of colluding with the Riviera Maya Gang. Our investigations show that drug cartels may not be the only type of organized criminal groups who try to influence Mexico’s top brass.

🧐 Our Data and Sources: This investigation is based on documents from Mexican investigators, Romanian court files, and interviews with a former associate of the gang’s leader, as well as daily court reporting from one of our journalists in Romania.
>> Read the full story.

BAD NEWS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION

U.S. Congress Sinks AML Bill: The Senate has blocked the ENABLERS Act, a bill aimed at combating illicit money flows, from being included in the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act. 

The legislation was introduced after the publication of the Pandora Papers, a massive investigation into the offshore industry led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The law would mandate real estate companies, law firms, and companies in several other sectors report suspicious activity to federal authorities — a requirement already imposed on financial institutions.

Europe’s No-Good Ruling on Transparency: Did the European Court of Justice understand what was at stake when it struck down public access to company ownership data, a key tool in the fight against corruption? We published an explainer and an op-ed explaining how the ECJ got played.

AND SOME GOOD NEWS

Say Hello to ‘Reporters Shield’: OCCRP and its partners are introducing Reporters Shield, a new program that will defend investigative reporting from legal harassment, such as “strategic lawsuits against public participation,” or SLAPPs.

Developed with the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice of the New York City Bar Association, and funded with an initial $9 million investment from USAID, Reporters Shield will pay for legal defense against lawsuits —  and help avoid them in the first place through training and pre-publication review. 

(Note: Reporters Shield is a separate effort from OCCRP SLAPPs Back, the in-house legal defense fund that many of you contributed to).