Limited distribution: Cyprus confidential
Limited distribution: Cyprus confidential
Hacked data from two accounting firms from Cyprus included in a cross-border investigation by the ICIJ, the OCCRP and Paper Trail Media.
We are releasing two new datasets in the Limited Distribution category today, Kallias & Associates, and DJC Accountants.
Kallias and Associates
Kallias & Associates is a Cyprus-based firm that provides accounting, tax and business management services to wealthy clients.
DJC Accountants
DJC Accountants is a business services firm based in Cyprus that offers accounting, business registration, bank account and office management and other services. Their website is available in English and Russian.
As part of a cross-border investigation, 272 journalists from 54 countries looked into financial services industry in Cyprus and reviewed these datasets during an eight-month embargo. Most of the datasets used by the journalists during their investigation are not available to the public. Four out of six of the datasets are now available in the DDoSecrets limited distribution collections. The ICIJ says about their Cyprus Confidential project:
The investigation, based on a leak of 3.6 million files from six Cypriot financial services providers and a Latvian firm, shows how complicit operators have helped members of the Russian elite hide billions of dollars in assets from the threat of sanctions. It also sheds light on the role of Cyprus as a key financial and secrecy hub for Putin’s cronies.
Cyprus firms use complex financial structures to redirect money and evade sanctions. For example, a German journalist who has interviewed Putin received a stipend from a partner of Bank Rossiya to write a book about the Russian leader:
Hubert Seipel, Russia expert, Putin biographer, Grimme Prize winner, winner of the German Television Prize, was paid from Russia, apparently for at least ten years.
According to the OCCRP, the problem of Russian money in Europe is widespread:
Most of the Russians appearing on the Forbes billionaires list were clients of Cypriot service providers, according to an ICIJ analysis. And more than 650 trusts and companies registered on the island were owned or controlled by Russians who have been sanctioned since 2014.
The datasets used in this joint investigation described by the ICIJ:
The providers are: ConnectedSky, Cypcodirect, DJC Accountants, Kallias & Associates, MeritKapital, and MeritServus in Cyprus. The MeritServus and MeritKapital records were obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets. Leaked records from Cypcodirect, ConnectedSky and i-Cyprus were obtained by Paper Trail Media. Kallias & Associates documents were obtained from Distributed Denial of Secrets, which shared them with Paper Trail Media and ICIJ. DJC Accountants’ records were obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets and shared by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Additional records came from Latvia-based Dataset SIA, which maintains the i-Cyprus website, through which it sells information about Cyprus companies, including Cyprus corporate registry documents.
These datasets all together cover the mid-1990s until April 2022, and “include confidential background checks, organizational charts, financial statements, bank account applications and email messages.”
Expect more stories from this collaboration to emerge over the next weeks and months.
Limited distribution
Researchers can request the DJC Accountants, Kallias & Associates and the MeritServus and MeritKapital datasets from the DDoSecrets limited distribution collections by opening a ticket in our request system.
Research
Partner stories so far coming out of the Cyprus collaboration include:
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