Methods to investigate oligarchs at IRE25

I'm speaking at the IRE Conference in New Orleans, where Investigative Reporters & Editors is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week!

Investigating Russian-affiliated oligarchs requires a multifaceted approach, as these individuals often operate through complex, opaque networks that span multiple jurisdictions and sectors. They frequently serve as proxies for Kremlin interests, using their wealth and networks to advance state objectives and evade Western sanctions. Also, oligarchs operate internationally, often through networks that span multiple jurisdictions and sectors, necessitating a global response from journalists.

To effectively expose and hold these actors accountable, key investigative methods include:

• Following the Money: This involves meticulously tracking financial flows through international banking records, offshore leaks, and corporate registries. Oligarchs commonly use shell companies and proxies to hide assets and launder money, as demonstrated in the Swedbank case and U.S. investigations into figures like Oleg Deripaska.

• Sanctions Tracking and Enforcement: A crucial method is monitoring how sanctioned individuals attempt to evade restrictions, often by shifting assets, using intermediaries, or re-registering companies.

• Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT): Utilizing public records, leaked documents, social media, and news reports helps map business interests, property ownership, and personal connections. This also involves monitoring Russian-language sources and court filings to uncover new leads and verify information3.

• Cross-Border Collaboration: Working with international partners and investigative networks is crucial because oligarchs’ operations rarely respect national boundaries and often involve Western enablers. This allows for pooling data, sharing expertise, and connecting local findings to global patterns.

• Legal and Court Filings: Analyzing court cases, legal filings, and regulatory disclosures can reveal business structures, beneficial ownership, and attempts to influence policy or evade scrutiny related to money laundering, fraud, or sanctions evasion.

• Source development, insider and testimonies of whistleblowers: Engaging sources within banks, corporations, or government agencies can provide documents or firsthand accounts of illicit activities where oligarchs manipulate financial or political systems.

• Undercover Operations: Methods used by law enforcement and journalists to gather evidence of meetings, transactions, or lobbying efforts tied to oligarchs.

I’ve tried to integrate these methods in my work, by combining deep dives into databases with on-the-ground reporting, tracing assets, company ownership, and money flows using Swedish and international corporate registries and sanctions lists. It’s important to approach the techniques with integrity.

My OSINT-related work utilizes specific tools like Flightradar24, Marine-traffic, satellite imagery, and public registries and trade/customs data. But I’ve also partnered with OSINT networks such as Bellingcat and The Dossier Center, and with investigative journalists and sources who work with leaked data.

• Putin’s Shadow War: This major cross-border investigation uncovered how the Kremlin used covert operations and proxies to advance Russian interests in Europe, exposing networks and financial flows tied to Russian oligarchs and state actors. This included analyzing "dark vessels" using intercept radio communication, Marine traffic and satellite images, and identifying Russian spies through databases, flight data, and social media.

• The Pravfond investigation. This exemplifies a sophisticated, multifaceted approach to uncovering Russian influence, closely aligning with key investigative methods. It prominently featured Following the Money, meticulously analyzing nearly 50,000 internal emails from Pravfond to reveal over 1,000 grants worth millions of dollars, detailing how funds were funneled globally to advance Kremlin interests and support alleged spies, criminals, and propagandists. The investigation also demonstrated Sanctions Tracking and Enforcement by exposing how Pravfond continued to provide financial support to recipients in European countries even after being sanctioned by the European Union in mid-2023, raising questions about possible sanctions violations.

• Swedbank Investigation: My colleagues at Mission Investigate/SVT revealed how billions of dollars, much of it tied to Russian oligarchs and organized crime, were laundered through one of Scandinavia’s largest banks. This investigation leveraged leaked banking data and cross-referencing with open corporate registries.

In summary, these techniques, when used together, offer the most comprehensive and effective approach to investigating Russian-affiliated oligarchs. Collaborative, cross-border journalism, leveraging shared tools and expertise, is essential for exposing how oligarchic power is wielded not just economically but through covert operations and influence campaigns, leading to real-world consequences.

Cross-border collaboration enables journalists to follow money and influence beyond national borders, exposing how local institutions can be implicated in global corruption.

Collaborating with international partners, such as ICIJ and OCCRP, allows for pooling data, sharing expertise (e.g., data journalism, forensic accounting), and connecting local findings to global patterns, making investigations more robust and comprehensive.

This is my session at IRE:

Methods and techniques to investigate oligarchs: Lessons learned from around the world

Time: Friday, June 20, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m. (1h)
Location: Balcony M (4th floor)

US journalists are suddenly confronted with kinds of power abuse that investigative reporters have long tackled around the world. In this session, international reporters and editors will share some of the tools and follow-the-money techniques that have exposed the tactics and held the unelected allies of autocrats accountable in different regions, the trickle-down corruption of oligarchy, and conflicts of interest.

Speakers

Emilia Diaz-Struck, Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN)

Emilia is the executive director of the Global Investigative Journalism Network (GIJN). She was formerly data and research editor at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), where she participated in more than 20 ICIJ award-winning investigative collaborations, including the Pulitzer-winning Panama Papers. She has been a professor at the Central University of Venezuela and a contributor for the Washington Post and Armando.info, which she co-founded. She was previously the investigative reporting coordinator at IPYS Venezuela.

Maria Georgieva, Freelance investigative journalist

Maria Georgieva is an award-winning investigative journalist and former Russia correspondent, reporting for Swedish and international media, such as Mission Investigate and Expressen. Her work exposes the human cost of Russian security service repression, investigations in Chechnya and across Russia. She has interviewed Navalny and Kara-Murza, uncovered Putin’s spies in Scandinavia, investigated Kadyrov’s campaign against Chechen dissidents, and the Kremlin’s use of patriotic memory projects and propaganda abroad.

Patricia Marcano Meza, Armando.info

Patricia Marcano is an investigative journalist and editor from Venezuela. She is part of the editorial team at Armando.info (a Venezuelan media outlet), and her work includes covering corruption, money laundering, and human rights violations, as well as coordinating the newsroom and the Venezuelan chapter of the FinCEN Files and the Pandora Papers. She is currently a Fulbright Scholar pursuing a master's degree in journalism at Ohio University and an Alfred Friendly Press Partners Fellow.

Hoda Osman, Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ)

Hoda Osman is a freelance investigative journalist and editor based in New York. She is Executive Editor at Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, where she oversees international projects. She worked on the Gaza Project, investigating attacks on journalists in Gaza, and is currently a co-producer on a PBS Frontline film about Syria. She previously worked with ABC, CBS, France24 and the Associated Press, and trains journalists worldwide in investigative reporting.