{"id":1418,"date":"2025-01-05T12:55:22","date_gmt":"2025-01-05T12:55:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/?p=1418"},"modified":"2025-01-05T12:55:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-05T12:55:23","slug":"in-review-a-busy-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/?p=1418","title":{"rendered":"In review: a busy 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"
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created with Microsoft AI image generator on LinkedIn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Happy new year to all. 2024 is in the rearview mirror now, and it was the busiest year I’ve had since I started working as a reporter in 2012. It was hard and stressful, lots of ups and downs and legal wrangling behind the scenes but I am proud of every story I did. Unlike other years, I’ve only done exclusive investigations in 2024, in collaboration with several publications. Here they are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. February: I revealed that a glam London townhouse belonging to a sanctioned Kremlin official remained unfrozen due to sophisticated offshore structures obscuring its ultimate ownership (ICIJ<\/a>) – the month after this story came out the property was frozen<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. March: I revealed that a UK\/ Swiss crypto firm with top political connections in London has moved money, perhaps inadvertently, to a crypto account connected to a man who turned out to be a Russian arms dealer and was later sanctioned (ICIJ<\/a> and The Guardian<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. March again: With Martin Laine<\/a> and Tanya Kozyreva<\/a>, I reported how a Russia-based crypto exchange which was also sanctioned, maintained links with major global crypto companies as well as Kremlin-connected people and companies, including a man who was accused of organised crime (with Delfi Estonia and ICIJ<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. March again: I reported on the Kremlin links of an Uzbek tycoon who had been buying up strategic industrial companies in Europe after the invasion of Ukraine (reporter.london<\/a>, my own website).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. April: I reported with Matt Bernardini<\/a> how a financial supporter of Donald Trump’s social media startup had links to online sales of “male enhancement” pills that regulators warned might be dangerous (Daily Beast<\/a>). Congratulations to Mr Trump for winning the election, by the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. May: I reported on the ties between Caribbean-based Paxum Bank (owned by the same Trump social media financier mentioned above), and one of the Tate brothers (ICIJ<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. August: Further evidence emerged of this banking connection and it turned out to involve both Tate brothers (ICIJ<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. October: I reported alongside colleagues that a top adviser to a former NATO official and presidential election contender in Romania had strong links to a Russian businessman who in turn had acted as a pro-Kremlin propagandist in Ukraine (with<\/a> OCCRP, Context.ro<\/a>, Dossier Center, Delfi Estonia, Rise Moldova).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. November: I worked on the team that delivered ICIJ’s marquee project for 2024 – Caspian Cabals, digging into the international financial and lobbying connections behind Kazakhstan\u2019s massive oil industry. Apart from my reporting<\/a>, I was very pleased to have many of the pictures I took on a work trip to Kazakhstan being used, as well as some I took here in London. European real estate breakout story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10. November again: Exclusive analysis in collaboration with a London-based expert and a Ukraine-based software company shows broad support by Kremlin-affiliated media for conspiracy theorist Calin Georgescu, the anti-Western candidate in the (now canceled) Romanian presidential election. (With Context.ro<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tend to consider it a good year if I get two or three of these babies done, but in 2024, with help from great colleagues from several countries and newsrooms, there were ten. Whether it’s by luck or the world becoming increasingly chaotic (and therefore riper for investigative journalism) I can’t say – but one thing is certain. 2024 has taken a lot out of me. A lot of pressure goes with producing this type of journalism, especially when I am the only one publishing via reporter.london, and I am hoping for a more restful 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I initially posted this article on my LinkedIn profile here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Happy new year to all. 2024 is in the rearview mirror now, and it was the busiest year I’ve had since I started working as a reporter in 2012. It was hard and stressful, lots of ups and downs and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1418"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1420,"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1418\/revisions\/1420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mateirosca.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}