About Us

With staff across six continents and hubs in Amsterdam, Washington, D.C., and Sarajevo, OCCRP is one of the largest investigative journalism organizations in the world. We are a mission-driven nonprofit newsroom that partners with other media outlets to publish stories that spur action. OCCRP is also a media development platform that advances investigative reporting worldwide.

Founded by veteran investigative reporters Drew Sullivan and Paul Radu in 2007, OCCRP is a pioneer of collaborative cross-border investigative journalism. From a modest beginning in Eastern Europe with a handful of partners, OCCRP has grown into a worldwide powerhouse, shaping the industry while upholding the highest standards for public interest reporting.

 

VISION

A more informed world where lives, livelihoods, and democracies are not threatened by crime and corruption.

 

MISSION

To spread and strengthen investigative journalism around the world and expose crime and corruption so the public can hold power to account.

Our work has four main pillars:

• Investigations - We lead collaborative cross-border projects and publish hard-hitting stories.
• Infrastructure - We provide training, tools, and resources so investigative outlets can thrive.
• Innovation - We develop new technology and solutions that serve the field of journalism.
• Impact - We accelerate the fight against global crime and corruption with groundbreaking partnerships.

 

PILLAR #1: INVESTIGATIONS

We work for the public. Our deeply reported investigations show how crime and corruption are fueling the crises of our time: war, climate change, inequality, and threats to democracy.

We report on topics that few other news organizations are covering in depth, exposing how the shadow world of money and power operates and intersects with everyday life. Readers come to OCCRP for content they can’t get anywhere else, from calling out corruption’s enablers — bankers, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals — to showing how transnational crime and corruption cause financial, environmental, and societal harm.

Since 2009, our investigations have helped return over $10 billion in illicitly acquired funds to the public sphere. We’ve also made revelations leading to more than 600 arrests, sentences, and indictments, and over 400 official investigations.

 

PILLAR #2: INFRASTRUCTURE

By partnering with 100+ media outlets of all sizes, OCCRP strengthens the quality of investigative journalism around the world. 

We build and help sustain media outlets by providing journalists in our global network with critical services such as:

• access to reporting partners
• investigative technology and data
• robust editing and fact-checking
• digital and physical security support
• protection against legal harassment
• resources and fundraising assistance

Our reporting partners share data, expertise, and local knowledge — which, in turn, bolsters the power of the entire network to uncover more crime and corruption.

This way of working allows OCCRP to cover tough topics in some of the world’s most dangerous countries. We’re not just after the big international stories. Instead, we look at what matters in every corner of the world, help local reporters make cross-border connections, and bring their stories to a larger audience.

And we’re after more than stories. By nurturing journalists and media outlets, we help create a global space where investigative reporting can grow and flourish. Our model generates a ripple effect, with journalists in our network training others, who ultimately train others — and perhaps even start their own media outlets to serve the public in their own countries.

 

PILLAR #3: INNOVATION

We consider OCCRP a research and development lab for innovative solutions to some of the biggest problems in our field. By generating tools and resources that all journalists can use, we help bolster investigative reporting around the world. 

OCCRP Aleph: The Data Tool that Supercharges Investigations

When we needed the best tool to manage terabytes of data and help reporters follow the money, we built it. Aleph is a data platform containing more than 4 billion documents that lets journalists and activists uncover key details about people, companies, and financial transactions — and much more. Some of the data on OCCRP Aleph is open to the public; journalists and activists can apply for extended access here.

The Aleph software is open source and available for anyone to use. More than 50 investigative media outlets have adopted Aleph as their in-house standard.

Reporters Shield: Legal Protection for Investigative Reporting

Media outlets across the globe are increasingly being targeted with expensive and draining lawsuits known as  SLAPPs — strategic lawsuits against public participation. In any given year, our network may be battling as many as 75 of these frivolous lawsuits. We saw a need for a global, coordinated response to this menace and helped build a separate organization to fight back against SLAPPs. Reporters Shield is a first-of-its-kind membership program that defends investigative reporting around the world from legal threats.

 

PILLAR #4: IMPACT

To accelerate the fight against corruption and organized crime, OCCRP pursues partnerships that get the evidence uncovered by journalists into the hands of the actors who can use it, including activists, public interest lawyers, researchers, and storytellers. Through these channels, our reporting informs smarter policymaking, leads perpetrators to face real consequences, and inspires popular awareness and action.

Global Anti-Corruption Consortium (GACC)

Our groundbreaking partnership with Transparency International, GACC accelerates the global fight against corruption by combining investigative reporting with civil society advocacy to achieve more impact. Through GACC, investigative reporting feeds into advocacy, legal submissions, academic research and other activities — activities that engaged more than 100 collaborators in the past two years, and led to more than 160 real-world impacts, including investigations, arrests, sanction designations, and policy reform.

Floodlight: Fiction in the Public Interest

Floodlight turns investigative reporting into vivid fiction films and television series, countering typical Hollywood narratives in which criminals are heroes and raising awareness of how organized crime and corruption operate on a global scale. Created by OCCRP, the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation (Gabo Foundation), and film industry professionals, Floodlight connects investigative journalism and the film and television industry to produce stories that inform, illuminate, and entertain.

“Our goal is to change the world, to create a global space where reporters can work effortlessly across borders and team up to do hard-hitting stories that result in a better world.” Publisher Drew Sullivan