The Russian Laundromat Exposed

Published: August 22nd, 2014

Three years ago, OCCRP exposed the “Russian Laundromat” - an immense financial fraud scheme that enabled vast sums to be pumped out of Russia. The money was laundered and moved into Europe and beyond through bribery and a clever exploitation of the Moldovan legal system.

Recently, OCCRP and Novaya Gazeta obtained detailed banking records for more than 120 accounts that made up the Laundromat. We shared the data with dozens of reporters from around the world who tracked down the money locally. The results are "The Russian Laundromat Exposed" - a new project which reveals far more about how the scheme worked and where the money went. The stories below explain how more than $20.8 billion was taken out of Russia and laundered, who got the money, and why some of the world’s largest banks failed to shut the scheme down.

01

Stories

The Russian Laundromat Exposed

Three years after the “Laundromat” was exposed as a criminal financial vehicle to move vast sums of money out of...

The Banks

Tiny Moldova, sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, was deluged by a financial tsunami. For four years starting...

About the Project

After its work on the 2014 series on the Russian Laundromat, the biggest known money laundering operation in...

02

Where Did the Money Go?

03

Interactive Map

Partner Stories

05

Previous Russian Laundromat Stories

Grand Theft Moldova

The bank theft was so outsized and bold that citizens of the Republic of Moldova came out in the streets this past...

The Russian Laundromat

It may be the biggest money-laundering operation in Eastern Europe -- a virtual laundromat operating through banks...