From Music TV to Medical Cannabis: The Opaque Business World of Vadim Soiref
How a family-run empire stretched from Russian music television to European medical cannabis — through offshore companies, dormant subsidiaries, and one profitable Balkan outlier This article launches our investigation into how Russian money has infiltrated the European cannabis market. Vadim Soiref’s business network spans Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Gibraltar, Malta, Estonia, Spain, and the Netherlands. Publicly, […]
Ismailov case. Part 1: The Rise and Fall in Russia
We begin this publication with the first part of a series built on a year-long investigation: dozens of hours of interviews, months of document review, and thousands of kilometers travelled to follow a trail that crosses Russia, Turkey, Europe, and beyond. It is a project in the same spirit as our earlier special investigations — […]
Protected: The Next Chapter in the Migom Saga: The Fraudster, the Food Blogger, and the Fortress
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The Valimahomed Family Empire: Orchestrated Rise and Fall
The Valimahomed empire’s trajectory reveals a family adept at navigating between innovation and deception. Their companies often emerge with fanfare, attract investors and customers, then collapse amid accusations of fraud or insolvency. From telecoms (Fly Mobile) to gambling (Lotto Billions) to banking (Kroo), the family’s ventures showcase both entrepreneurial ambition and systemic red flags. Most […]
From Radicals to Returns: The Troubled Evolution of Nick Cooney
How a convicted extremist leveraged his activist network into a global VC operation fueled by opacity, insider favors, and reputational erasure A Controversial Path from Activism to Capital Nicholas Cooney, born in 1981 in Philadelphia, rose to prominence in the early 2000s as an aggressive animal rights activist. He led and founded several nonprofits—including Hugs […]
Investigative Irony: How Intelligence Online Turned a Polite Email Thread into a PR Cover for Murat Seitnepesov
“Dear Madam, Dear Sir,” begins Alice Pontallier, a journalist at Intelligence Online, in what appears to be a courteous email. She writes to inquire about Murat Seitnepesov, the Caspian oil trader with a fraud conviction and a colorful history of unpaid debts and courtroom drama. She claims to be following up on “ongoing judicial cases” […]
Fraud, Lawsuits, and Takedown Threats: The Migom Architect Strikes Back
If you’ve ever doubted that convicted fraudsters still have friends in high places, allow us to introduce you to the latest chapter in the Migom saga: a “Notice and Take Down” letter sent by a Swiss lawyer with an impressive résumé—and an even more impressively flexible sense of professional integrity. From the Shadows to the […]
Protected: New Faces, Same Scam: How Migom’s Architects Spawned a Network of Fraudulent Neobanks
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Protected: Licensed to Scam: Migom and the Caribbean Banking Loophole
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The Web of Deception: How Murat Seitnepesov and His Network Navigate Sanctions and Global Trade Restrictions
Murat Seitnepesov’s corporate empire spans multiple countries, demonstrating a deliberate strategy of leveraging international jurisdictions to obscure operations and navigate sanctions. From Switzerland, where his flagship company Integral Petroleum is headquartered, to the UAE, Uzbekistan, the UK, and beyond, Seitnepesov has established a web of entities that facilitate his business activities across diverse regulatory environments. […]