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Oct 8, 2024 | 
occrp.org | Aisha Down |Lara Dihmis |Rana Sabbagh |Kevin Hall
In January, an attack drone detonated at a U.S. base near the Iraqi border in northeast Jordan, killing three soldiers and wounding dozens more — the most dramatic in a chain of strikes by Iran-backed militants since Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. The U.S. quickly cracked down on a financial network it said supported Kataib Hezbollah, the Iraqi militia blamed for the attack.
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Sep 18, 2024 | 
occrp.org | Bassel Alhamdo |Ahmad Haj Hamdo |Antoine Harari |Lara Dihmis
It was midway through the second half when Syria’s young forward, Mohammed al-Hamwi, pounced on a header across goal and knocked it past the Italian keeper,putting his country on the path to one of its most dramatic international soccer victories. Syria’s 2-1 triumph over Italy in the group stages of the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship electrified the nation, and crowned a run of eye-catching wins by the youth team over the previous decade and a half.
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May 8, 2024 | 
occrp.org | Aisha Down |Lara Dihmis
Tweet this Share this on Facebook DONATE Swiss tobacco giant Philip Morris International (PMI) obtained a stake in a company that won a disputed license to make and market cigarettes in Egypt, one of the world’s most desirable tobacco markets. The company’s full ownership details are not public, but one of PMI’s fellow shareholders is a PMI distributor.
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May 8, 2024 | 
newarab.com | Jason McLure |Aisha Down |Lara Dihmis
This story is part of Smoking for the State, a The Examination series examining government-controlled tobacco companies supported in part, by a grant from the Pulitzer Center. The Examination is a nonprofit investigative newsroom covering global public health, which receives funding from Bloomberg Philantropies among others. This instalment was reported in collaboration with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
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Mar 13, 2024 | 
occrp.org | Lara Dihmis |Tom Stocks
A French court last month indicted the nephew of Riad Salame, Lebanon’s disgraced former central bank governor, as part of a wider money laundering probe into Salame and his associates, a French judicial source on Thursday told OCCRP.
The charges against Emile Salame, 38, were brought on February 12 and include criminal association, organized money laundering, concealment of embezzlement of public funds and aggravated breach of trust, according to the judicial source.
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Mar 6, 2024 | 
occrp.org | Peter Geoghegan |Lara Dihmis
Administrators in charge of liquidating his bank’s assets have “stashed” the collection “under conditions that seem inadequate for its proper preservation,” according to a lawsuit recently filed by Herrera Velutini. Herrera Velutini made the claims against Driven Administrative Services LLC, which has been appointed to administer Bancrédito International Bank and Trust Corporation. Herrera Velutini is the sole shareholder of Bancrédito Holding, the company that owns the Puerto Rico-based bank.
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Mar 6, 2024 | 
occrp.org | Peter Geoghegan |Lara Dihmis
He’s already facing charges for allegedly bribing a former Puerto Rican governor, and his bank is in liquidation following money laundering fines.Now, Julio Herrera Velutini has another legal concern: the state of his confiscated US$23-million art collection.
Administrators in charge of liquidating his bank’s assets have “stashed” the collection “under conditions that seem inadequate for its proper preservation,” according to a lawsuit recently filed by Herrera Velutini.
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Mar 6, 2024 | 
occrp.org | Lara Dihmis |Brian Fitzpatrick
Two British men have been acquitted of bribing senior Saudi officials to secure and retain military communications contracts worth at least £1.6 billion (US$2.04 billion), after arguing the payments had the approval of the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense.
The verdict was reached by a London jury on Wednesday, nearly 12 years after the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) opened its investigation into £9.7 million ($12.36 million) of payments made by the U.K. firm GPT Special Project Management Ltd.
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Nov 28, 2023 | 
occrp.org | Jared Ferrie |Lara Dihmis
In April 2017, Canadian authorities charged currency exchange operator Farzam Mehdizadeh for his alleged role in a global network that laundered funds for criminals and Islamist militants, including Hezbollah and the Taliban.
But it was too late. Despite being under police surveillance, Mehdizadeh had managed to board a flight out of Toronto 11 days earlier, disappearing into thin air.
Police had been investigating Mehdizadeh for over three years, but the case fizzled out after he left Canada.
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Nov 28, 2023 | 
occrp.org | Jared Ferrie |Lara Dihmis
But it was too late. Despite being under police surveillance, Mehdizadeh had managed to board a flight out of Toronto 11 days earlier, disappearing into thin air. Police had been investigating Mehdizadeh for over three years, but the case fizzled out after he left Canada. Mehdizadeh has never returned to face trial, and reporters could find little trace of him in his home country of Iran, which police believe was his final destination.
