@szakonyi
Associate Professor at George Washington University Co-Founder, Anti-Corruption Data Collective (@acdatacollective.bsky.social) Researching corruption, kleptocracy and authoritarianism in Russia and the West
Hot damn! We won an award.
Bartelme and Smith, along with John Dell’Osso from the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa, won the A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism for “Power and Polo.”
We recently helped our member @papertrailmedia.de report on a notorious US oligarch's acquisition of critical energy infrastructure in Germany.
Overdue use of American Oligarch, hitherto reserved for use “over there”
Great point here by @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social
The EU is taking important steps toward transparency in real estate ownership by overseas entities.
But making that data usable for tracing dirty money across borders needs a common data standard.
stephenabbottpugh.medium.com/standardisin...
This story we helped DW uncover last week highlights just one of many contradictions in the nascent deep sea mining industry.
From bluewashing to regulation with a USA-sized gap, the risk of corporate capture that threatens the global environment run deep.
acdatacollective.org/work/deep-se...
📣 Online seminar
Join us 2pm to 3pm (GMT) tomorrow for a #GIACE seminar on using leaked and sensitive data to research illicit finance with @szakonyi.bsky.social and Tom Mayne, chaired by
@lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social.
Held in collaboration with the Illicit Finance Data Lab.
Register now 👇
Very happy to have had the chance to present our work (w. @mattcollin.bsky.social & @szakonyi.bsky.social) on the effects of the Economic Crime Bill and its beneficial ownership transparency on secretive real estate ownership in the UK.
🧵 New version of our paper (@bcegerod.bsky.social) is finally online: "How Many is Enough? Sample Size in Staggered Difference-in-Differences Designs"
We show that even well-identified DiD studies are often underpowered; sample sizes needed are surprisingly large
Paper: osf.io/preprints/os... 1/6
"Like refusing to finance an oil drilling site but still buying shares in the drilling company."
Over 20 financial institutions have pledged not to finance deep sea mining, but several of the same banks invest in companies preparing to mine the seabed for minerals. 🤔
www.dw.com/en/the-hidde...
Amid the furore over US claims to Greenland, a close Trump ally has quietly gained control over a significant part of Germany’s energy infrastructure, including a pipeline company supplying military airfields.
The Promise and Perils of Using Leaked and Sensitive Data to Research Illicit Finance February 5 2 - 3pm GMT / 9am - 10am ET Speakers: Liz David-Barrett David Szakonyi Tom Mayne
On 5 February join @szakonyi.bsky.social @lizdavidbarrett.bsky.social & Tom Mayne for a deep dive into the potential for leaked data to underpin illicit finance research.
David will present a new ACDC study into the effectiveness of de-risking as an AML tool, based on data from the #CongoHoldUp.
Recently published in @itaxjournal.bsky.social "Safely opening Pandora’s box: a guide for researchers working with leaked data" by Annette Alstadsæter, Matthew Collin ( @mattcollin.bsky.social ) & Andreas Økland (@andokl.bsky.social)
Available at: rdcu.be/eZfQl
check out Common Side Effects too
Nicolás Maduro Charged With Felony Oil Possession
Nicolás Maduro Charged With Felony Oil Possession
Absolute lawlessness
Greatest cover-up in history?
Standard trolling by the admin, meant to distract. Challenge the move without letting it drown the news cycle!
I am hiring a post-doctoral fellow (2 years) to work on all things political finance in Africa. There are no teaching obligations, and lots of opportunities for fieldwork. A PhD in Political Science is a requirement. Please spread the word! Happy to answer questions - send them to my LSE email.
Further obvious evidence that allowing your cryptocurrency exchange to be used for money laundering is a really really bad idea
decrypt.co/350490/coinb...
And just in time for the holidays! The perfect present for all your criminal and kleptocrat loved ones living abroad.
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Epstein had kompromat on Trump and was prepared to take advantage of it
🤔unusual indeed
🤦♂️😈 "Thiel said that international financial bodies, which make it more difficult for people to shelter their wealth in tax havens, are one sign the antichrist may be amassing power & hastening Armageddon,saying: “It’s become quite difficult to hide one’s money.”" www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Come work with us!
Are you interested in research on corruption/illicit finance/kleptocracy? We are hiring a Research Fellow at @acdatacollective.bsky.social: acdatacollective.org/wp-content/u...
Please share in your networks, this could be a great gig.
Academic friends, what is the best place to run representative surveys in the US that is reasonably affordable? Recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
I have given in and started a Substack to write about illicit finance, development and data
In my first post, I explain why we should be careful about citing the $312 billion statistic on the size of Chinese money laundering
datadarkly.substack.com/p/exactly-ho...
The choice facing Switzerland is clear. It can cling to an outdated model of banking secrecy that represses press freedom, or it can align its laws with democratic standards, write Delphine Halgand-Mishra and @frederikobermaier.com. bit.ly/4p85SHj
Happy ERC Announcement Day, everyone!
And huge huge congrats to Jacob. So well deserved.
Great to have @szakonyi.bsky.social present his new book project in the keynote speech at the WhoGov 2025 workshop at @statsvitenskap.bsky.social ! The last two days have been full of exciting presentations on elite research by a great group of researchers!