Art has long been recognized as a great means of money laundering and bribes, something Ric Grenell is probably familiar with given that he made a lot of his money shilling for the incredibly corrupt Moldovan oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc (captured & extradited to Moldova last summer).
“Shortly after Trump’s shutdown announcement, the center’s president, Richard Grenell, told me to “get rid of everything” in the permanent collection because we needed all new art for the reopening.”
Extremely normal and fine for a company to put this in a public statement
Pol Sci 101 says national interest guides policy. Not true in a kleptocracy. It’s money and political survival.
The Al-Khayyats seem to be taking the role in Syria did that the Karzai family did in Afghanistan with their stranglehold on much of the (il)licit economy.
“That is when Mr. [Congressman] Wilson, himself a former real estate lawyer and proponent of the sanctions repeal, offered a tactical suggestion.
“I know how to get the president’s attention,” Mr. Wilson said. “Make it a Trump National Golf Course in Syria.””
President Trump’s family real-estate firm is planning to brand a 70-story luxury residential tower with local partners in the Georgia capital. on.wsj.com/48UxV6m
In a kleptocracy, war is less about the national interest and more about opportunities for profit and plunder.
“The same thing happened again on 7 April, this time when traders spent $950m on oil futures, betting that the price of oil would fall just hours before the ceasefire with Iran was announced.”
An important read on transparency:
It's critical for journalists, civil society, and researchers to be able to figure out who owns what, and the EU needs to sort out this mess immediately.
www.occrp.org/en/feature/h...
Junior financial services minister in the British Virgin Islands says the UK has accepted that the BVI will not move to a fully public register of company ownership
bvinews.com/smith-uk-und...
#beneficialownership
“The statutory tax rate on corp profits is 21%. Collectively, the 88 companies in the ITEP report reported $105b in profits in 2025. That means, absent special breaks, they would have owed the federal government about $22.1b. Instead, these companies collectively “received $4.7b in tax rebates.”
China has launched a public consultation on legislation billed as the country's first foundational law governing the entire financial sector
www.linkedin.com/posts/stephe...
In a kleptocracy, one must make sure inner circle cronies get deals regardless of who offers the best product and/or best price.
Thus, kleptocracies are hugely economically inefficient and require significant govt interference in markets.
The “Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvests Act of 2025” or the “FISH Act” proposed in the US Senate calls for the creation of a public list of foreign vessels, foreign fleets, and beneficial owners of foreign vessels or fleets engaged in IUU fishing
www.congress.gov/bill/119th-c...
“Renderings of the new structure make it look like the old White House mated with Treasury…”
An architectural representation of kleptocracy (rule by thieves) via the emerging White House ballroom
You can find the @opencontracting.bsky.social manual on understanding public procurement corruption red flags here:
www.open-contracting.org/resources/re...
The Open Contracting Partnership lists 73 red flags for corruption in government procurement.
It’s as if DHS leadership were instead using the red flags as a checklist and how-to guide for self enrichment.
Today is the last day to respond to Cyprus' consultation on the granting of legitimate interest access to its beneficial ownership register of trusts and legal arrangements
www.cysec.gov.cy/el-GR/public...
#beneficialownership #legitimateinterest #6AMLD
Switzerland has approved an anti-money laundering strategy which says the country’s new beneficial ownership register must be “implemented effectively” and “continuously reviewed for efficiency and effectiveness”. Also stresses the need for quality, linked datasets
www.news.admin.ch/en/newnsb/mB...
The paranoid in me is starting to wonder if this is as much about walling people in as keeping people out
Possible historical parallel was how the insanely corrupt leading Nazi Hermann Göring took over many of the best industrial assets for himself, including huge steelworks (especially useful given the importance of steel to war production)
New oil refinery to be built in Texas and announced by Trump will include companies tightly tied to 2 x cabinet members plus ties to Trump sons and other Trump inner circle investors.
The US is no longer a liberal democracy, according to the top global watchdog on freedom and democracy. We're falling fast, and are now classed the same as Guatemala, Colombia, and Peru
www.v-dem.net/documents/75...
NEW: Toxic oil waste is increasingly shooting out of the ground in Oklahoma, contaminating the state’s drinking water.
We found that regulators identified 2,000 problem wells in a 2021 report. Then they ignored their findings.
With @readfrontier.bsky.social
“If Zambia won’t sign, “sharp public cuts to American foreign assistance would significantly demonstrate to aid-receiving countries the seriousness of our interest in collaboration and our insistence on tangible benefits under our America First foreign policy,” the draft memo says.”
A Pentagon recruiter openly offers corruption: “unmatched access to top-level government officials and privileged information flow — whatever you need, you can get.”
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/u...
Dirty money, golden postcodes: Iran’s £200m London empire
An investigation by @thetimes.com reveals property portfolio linked to the Iranian regime - including luxury flats allegedly held for new supreme leader
Confirms reporting by @occrp.org and @bloomberg.com
www.thetimes.com/article/7f4d...
In a kleptocracy (rule by thieves), the national interest is a secondary consideration to the regime’s goals of gaining more money and power, even in wartime. That’s assuming the national interest is considered at all…💰
The aftermath of the Iranian strike on the oil tankers at the Basra oil terminal shows an oil slick near the burned out tanker, March 14. It's likely fuel oil as the cargo, oil condensates / naphtha, seemed to have burned of in the fire after the explosion
