Weekly newsletter delving into the secret worlds of money and power.
Fat Leonard (Almost) Flees to Russia
Three days ago, we exclusively revealed that Leonard Francis was in Venezuela, after fleeing U.S. detention on Sept. 4. We were right. Venezuelan police arrested him as he boarded a flight for Russia. From home detention in San Diego, he'd escaped over the border into Mexico, and then to
Manhunt: We Reveal Fat Leonard's Location
We've got a big reveal today in Whale Hunting. Just over two weeks after Leonard Francis – aka "Fat Leonard," a corrupt U.S. military contractor -- went on the run, and the U.S. Marshals Service put a $40,000 bounty on his head, we've tracked him down. We're not
Fat Leonard, On The Run
In a movie-like turn of events, Leonard Francis, the corrupt Malaysian contractor who ran a mafia-like network inside the U.S. Navy, has gone on the lam. He hacked off his GPS ankle bracelet and fled into the night from his multi-million-dollar home in a gated community in San Diego,
#whereisjholow?
On Dec. 22, 2014, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak stood in a Chanel store in Honolulu, a $130,000 watch in his hand, a birthday present for his wife. But Najib’s credit cards weren’t working. He tapped out an urgent message on his Blackberry. “My platinum cards are
Najib Heads to Jail, Finally
Seven years after we wrote about Najib Razak, Malaysia's former prime minister, receiving $681 million of state funds into his personal bank accounts, he's finally going to jail. Today, a Federal Court panel headed by Malaysia's chief justice, Maimum Tuan Mat, upheld the High Court's conviction of Najib in 2020.
Hunter Biden's China Problem
If Republicans take over the House of Representatives in November, you can expect nonstop investigations of Hunter Biden’s connections to China in the runup to 2024. Already, conservative media is focusing more on the story. Many Democrats say this is all a diversion from investigations of former President Donald
Big in Japan
You might think you know the story of the rise and fall of Carlos Ghosn, the once-super star CEO of Renault-Nissan: Got too big for his boots, allegedly misused company funds, and escaped from Japan in a box for musical equipment. Well, "Boundless, The Rise, Fall, and Escape of Carlos
Mapping Networks of Money and Power
Over three decades ago, an international bank called BCCI was shut down by regulators. BCCI had been bankrolling the criminal activities of fraudsters and dictators, as well as CIA operations abroad. The collapse of BCCI became the obsession of a struggling artist named Mark Lombardi who was moonlighting as a
End of the Road for Najib
Ok, so we're going out on a limb here and saying it: former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is likely going to jail for his role in the Billion Dollar Whale scandal (Najib and Jho Low, a businessman, oversaw the pilfering of billions of dollars from Malaysian fund 1MDB and
Kabul Falling
For the past six months, the team at Project Brazen have been working on a kaleidoscopic exploration of last year's events in Afghanistan. The footage of desperate Afghans clinging to the sides of cargo airplanes seems eons ago now, but the stories of escape and the Taliban's return to power
The Agony of the Superyacht Crew Member
“Should we be resigning from all Russian yachts?” This question was posed by an anonymous participant in an Instagram Q&A hosted in March by Nautilus International, a union for mariners, as the United Kingdom, European Union, and United States began sanctioning Russian oligarchs and setting out to freeze their
