Category Archives: Journalism
The travel visa cash cow
One of the professional highlights of 2020: an investigation I wrote based on whistleblower testimony and other exclusive information, exposing how VFS, the company hired by the British government to process all of the visa applications from people coming into … Continue reading
Lootin’ with Putin: my (small) contribution to a special report in Private Eye
It was a privilege to make a small contribution to this six-page special report in Private Eye magazine, exposing the UK firms without which the malignant post-Soviet oligarchy would have been unable to gain the power it has today. Featured … Continue reading
Deutsche Bank’s ‘undocumented’ deal with rogue bank to keep dirty money flowing
After the S&P Global Market Intelligence news service published my three-part series into rogue Cypriot bank FBME’s activities, we received more confidential documents from sources keen to expose the depth of the abuses that took place at this firm. And … Continue reading
FBME Cyprus: the global criminal’s bank of choice
S&P Global Market Intelligence, the financial newswire where I work as a reporter, recently published my investigative series into FBME, the now closed rogue Cypriot bank linked to the Russian mafia, Syrian war crimes, fraud, money laundering, corrupt offshore finance … Continue reading
The Wapping Mole discovers likely Romanian prostitution ring
The Wapping Mole, a lively blog running journalistic investigations and general interest news about the Wapping neighbourhood of Tower Hamlets, London, has discovered what appears to be a Romanian sex trafficking gang operating on the quaint cobblestoned streets it patrols. … Continue reading
Moldova’s other choice
Maia Sandu could be living proof that Moldovans don’t necessarily have to choose between handing their lives over to either oligarchs or communists. Much has changed for the better in Moldova in recent months — there is a new governor … Continue reading
Another Brick Lane Tale
Much ink has been used on the topic of how the East End is now compared to the good ol’ days. Of all the well-documented waves of immigrants that came here, Eastern Europeans like me are the newest. I was … Continue reading
The ‘silent secret’ app
Before spending eight months as a night-shift delivery driver for a posh deli called Benugo, I distributed flyers advertising the Silent Secret app to children in Barking, East London, for a few hours in December 2014 as a means to … Continue reading
Gentles’ Easter
-all pictures mine (full copy rights etc) Celebrated the week after Easter, Gentles’ Easter is widely considered the most important holiday of the year by many Moldovans. This year it fell on the 19th and 20th of April, when cemeteries … Continue reading
I used #BBCAskThis…
… to bring up issues I think have been as yet overlooked in the campaign leading up to the UK general elections. I have no idea whether the questions will be considered – I made them out in writing and … Continue reading