| The investigation, published in September 2020, revealed how banks moved dirty money for drug cartels, corrupt regimes, arms traffickers and other international criminals — in ways perpetuated by a broken U.S.-led enforcement system. The global collaboration by more than 400 journalists drew on a cache of highly confidential leaked U.S. Treasury documents obtained by BuzzFeed News.
"The thing that we recognized immediately is that 'oh, this was a global story,' you know, this wasn't a U.S. story," Jason Leopold, who received the documents, said. "And we really needed to work with people, other investigative journalists in other countries, because much of the information that we wanted to lay bare dealt with financial crimes all over the world."
The passage of the Corporate Transparency Act in early 2021, a bipartisan effort already underway that gained steam after the FinCEN Files, felt like a huge leap forward off the back of the 16-month investigation.
"It still felt in that era, the march of transparency felt it had an inevitable momentum to it," Simon Bowers, then ICIJ's Europe coordinator, said. "It would all just, you know, fall neatly into place and in good order. But then obviously things changed." Read more.
CHELSEA FC CHARGES
Chelsea Football Club has been charged with dozens of breaches of Football Association regulations relating to agents, intermediaries and third-party payments between 2011 and 2016 when billionaire Roman Abramovich owned the London club. The payments were uncovered by The Guardian and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism as part of Cyprus Confidential.
HBO SHOW HIGHLIGHTS ICIJ REPORTING
"Marcial Maciel: the Wolf of God" ("Marcial Maciel: el lobo de Dios"), a new series about the powerful Catholic priest behind the Legion of Christ religious order, draws on the work of ICIJ and its partners to explore the sect's scandalous history, some of which was revealed in Paradise and Pandora Papers investigations.
Thanks for reading!
Carmen Molina Acosta
ICIJ's digital producer
P.S. If you've enjoyed our coverage, remember to tell your friends and family and share our work on social media. Send them an email now! | 
