Despite claims from Russian authorities that documents had been lost, OCCRP reporters uncovered a criminal network of phantom companies laundering money for a wide variety of criminal organizations including Russian and Moldovan organized crime, the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel, Vietnamese Triads and those who stole Russia tax money in the Magnitsky case. The OCCRP dubbed the criminal conspiracy the "Proxy Platform".
Reporters from Barron's and Novaya Gazeta contributed to the investigation. Contest winners will be announced Oct. 19 in Atlanta, Ga.
Said Drew Sullivan, OCCRP editor, "It’s nice to get these recognitions of the hard work of our partners and reporters. But in the end, the story is really what is most important. I am happy that we have played some small role in bringing about some justice for Sergey Magnitsky."
Paul Radu, executive director at OCCRP, said, “Our story proves that cross-border journalism and data exchanges can stop criminals from doing business as usual across frontiers.”
Josh Hatch, a member of the ONA board, said of the nominees, "The innovation of online journalists isn’t slowing down. Nor is innovation isolated to just the biggest newsrooms."
Hatch, who also co-chairs the Online Journalism Awards Committee, noted that "as technologies evolve and mature, we’re seeing storytelling taking new forms, multimedia integration hitting new heights, and great journalism reaching more people than ever before.”
The Proxy Platform investigation was also recently named as a finalist for the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.
The OCCRP is a consortium of 18 investigative centers and commercial news organizations and dozens of international journalists. Its 80 reporters make up one of the world’s largest investigative news organizations.
