Scam Empire: Inside A Merciless International Investment Scam An unprecedented leak exposes the inner workings of a global investment-scam industry, where ruthless call center agents make millions while destroying lives around the world.

What do 1.9 terabytes of leaked documents, records of money flows, and audio recordings from inside scam call centers reveal?

The merciless world of professional scammers, who steal their victims’ life savings — and then come back for more.

Inside #ScamEmpire👇

www.occrp.org/en/project/s...

Miranda Patrucic, @occrp.org’s editor in chief, sat down with Belgian journalists from Knack to discuss the severe consequences of the Trump administration’s decision to cut funding for investigative journalism. Read the full conversation in English: www.occrp.org/en/feature/w...

Cuts at USAID and Elsewhere Strain Global Journalism Investigative journalists around the world relied on funding from the U.S. Now, those watchdogs are scrambling to survive a sudden cash crunch.

Small, non-profit media around the world were defunded in the USG’s destruction of foreign assistance. Many are the only remaining independent media left in countries. That only helps autocrats and the corrupt.

CPI 2024 for Eastern Europe & Central Asia: Vicious cycle of weak… Corruption continues to plague Eastern Europe and Central Asia, scoring one of the lowest averages on the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index at 35/100.

Kyrgyzstan: "constitutional changes significantly expanding presidential authority, weakening parliamentary oversight and facilitating unchecked corruption."

I would also add that eliminating govt procurement system has worsened corruption — state payments to companies are now nearly untraceable

🧵 Just before midnight, OCCRP's EIC @mirandaoccrp.bsky.social
got a letter from @mshellenberger.bsky.social making clear he intended to write another conspiratorial article about us.

Before we even had time to wrap our heads around this garbled array of accusations, he'd published a hit piece.

Authoritarian learning in practice:

Kazakhstani MP proposes to adopt a 'Foreign Agent' law to protect the county's national interests from the activities of organizations like USAID.

vlast.kz/novosti/6381...

It seems neither the Trump administration nor Elon Musk truly understand how independent investigative journalism works. We uncover wrongdoing, investigate it, publish our findings, and move on.

@abelf.bsky.social explained it perfectly, read it

Authoritarian leaders in former Soviet bloc seize on Musk’s USAid crackdown Region’s autocrats join in persecution of agency that provided aid and helped to build up civil society in 1990s

Musk’s moves to dismantle USAID and shut down RFE/RL are winning cheers from autocrats: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Seeing another chance to silence free press, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov urged backing Musk to close RFE/RL’s local bureau, Azattyk -- famous for its critical coverage.

Investigative Reporting Is Free Speech, Not ‘Treason’ I wrote a story that was cited by a whistleblower complaint that led to Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Now, it’s being used to attack foreign aid and the free press as part of a conspiracy theory. ...

@abelf.bsky.social wrote a @occrp.org story that was cited by a whistleblower complaint that led to Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Now, it’s being used to attack foreign aid and the free press as part of a conspiracy theory. Here’s what really happened. www.occrp.org/en/feature/i...

Nonprofits Sue Trump Administration to Reverse Freeze on Foreign Aid Funding - Public Citizen WASHINGTON D.C. — Today, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against…

OCCRP has sued Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, the U.S. Department of State and USAID for illegally halting grants that were funding small investigative media around the world. The halt defunded what is often the last remaining independent media in some countries.

Scientists and journalists need to figure out right quick how to explain to the average person how a massive change in research indirects will impact the medical care they and their children get (eg at the local children’s hospital), the education their children will get, the price of tuition, etc.

Iraq’s Dollar Auction: The ‘Monster’ Funneling Billions to Fraudsters and Militants Through the U.S. Federal Reserve A system set up to channel dollars from Iraqi oil sales to importers has been exploited by money launderers and militant groups for years. An OCCRP investigation shows how the fraud works in practice.

If you actually want government efficiency, it's essential to fund investigative journalism orgs like OCCRP.

An example: We publicly exposed in October how the US govt ignored billions of USD being stolen in Iraq & funneled to terrorist orgs

www.occrp.org/en/investiga...

I feel like most coverage of the current US agenda lacks focus on its real impact on people

1. Cutting international aid -> leads to deaths and job losses worldwide

2. Raising import tariffs -> ultimately, Americans will pay more for goods

Don't get lost in the nuances — put people first

Meydan TV's statement regarding latest arrests of journalists - MEYDAN.TV On Friday, 6 December 2024, beginning around 1pm Baku local ... Read more

Following #COP29 when the world is not watching anymore five independent journalists were jailed today in Baku, #Azerbaijan. A crackdown on Meydan TV. Free Aynur Elgunesh and #FreeThemAll!
www.meydan.tv/en/article/m...

A Final Deal Along Central Asia’s Deadliest Border - The Times Of Central Asia It took some 33 years, but on December 4, Kyrgyz and Tajik officials reached a final agreement on delimitation of the last sections of their 972-kilometer

Piece by @pannierb.bsky.social A Final Deal Along Central Asia’s Deadliest Border timesca.com/a-final-deal... #CentralAsia #BorderSecurity #Geopolitics #ConflictResolution #BorderIssues #SecurityAnalysis #PoliticalInsights #Eurasia #Kyrgyzstan #Tajikistan

Law Enforcement Conducted a Search and Seizure at the Home of IStories Editor-in-Chief Alesya Marokhovskaya’s Parents A criminal case was opened against her under the “foreign agency” article

This is alarming: Law enforcement conducted a search and seizure at the home of the parents of Alesya Marokhovskaya - the editor-in-chief of @occrp.bsky.social member center Istories. A criminal case was opened against her under the “foreign agency” article. istories.media/en/news/2024...

It took them a "months-long investigation" to locate the "About Us" page on the OCCRP website. In Central Asia, only pro-government or pro-Russian news outlets usually engage in such things

I think I've made up my mind: I will use BlueSky for professional and semi-professional content, and Threads will be for hobbies and other casual stuff

I hope this becomes a better space for all of us

I feel a strong urge to express my thoughts and share ideas, but other social media platforms seem dead to me when it comes to civilized conversations

It’s not my first time starting over. So, ak-jol to new beginnings! 😘