Exclusive: Forensic Report Exposes Bank of America Links to Billion-Dollar Transnational Fraud
by Tom Wright
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Cambodian businessman Yim Leak has filed a sealed application in a Washington DC federal court using a powerful but little-known statute to hunt for the journalists and sources behind the investigation that exposed his $1.5 billion money laundering network.
Welcome to Whale Hunting, where we follow the money from Southeast Asian scam centers to Manhattan penthouses, exposing the criminal networks that cost Americans billions each year.
There is a predictable rhythm to what happens when a transnational criminal network is exposed. First comes the silence. Then the frantic scrubbing of corporate registries. Then the flight of assets to safer jurisdictions.
We saw all of this last October when we first exposed the $1.5 billion money laundering network orchestrated by South African fugitive Benjamin Mauerberger and his Cambodian partner, Yim Leak. Within weeks, key companies vanished from registries, Mauerberger fled Bangkok for Dubai on one of his private jets, and Thai authorities seized over $600 million in assets.
But eventually, the silence ends. The network realizes that running is not enough, especially when the U.S. Treasury is circling. That is when they hire the fixers, draft the press releases, and try to rewrite history.
This week, Yim Leak made his move. It did not happen in Phnom Penh or Bangkok. It happened in a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.
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