Sayari Blog
Join our Newsletter
Convicted Synthetic Drug Importer Controls Network of Pharmaceutical Companies in India
An Indian businessman who pleaded guilty in December to drug importation, smuggling, and money laundering charges is connected to a broader network of India-based pharmaceutical companies, according to public records. At least two of the companies have sent over 400...
Arrest of Azerbaijani Ambassador Possibly Linked to Arms Sales by Sanctioned Entity
Members of the State Security Services of Azerbaijan (SSSA) arrested the Azerbaijani ambassador to Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina on corruption charges, Azeri government sources reported last Thursday. The arrest of Eldar Hasanov Humbet oglu is the latest...
What We Can Learn from Jordan’s Foreign Investment Laws
Since the mid-1990s, Jordan has steadily moved away from a centrally planned economy — in which the state plays a central role in the manufacturing and distribution of goods — and toward a private one in order to improve the country’s economic prospects. This shift...
Wine Fraud, Intellectual Property Right Infringement, and Risk: An Introduction
Recent law enforcement investigations make clear that counterfeit wine production and distribution is a multi-billion dollar global problem. With frequent product seizures across Southern Europe and trademark infringement suits brought against suppliers in East Asia,...
Alleged Honduran Drug Trafficker Linked to Vast Corporate Network Operating in Various Industries
An alleged Honduran drug trafficker arrested by U.S. authorities in March is connected to a vast corporate network spanning multiple industries in Honduras, according to public records. The companies purportedly operate in several key Honduran economic sectors,...
Alleged Counterfeit Face Mask Manufacturer Linked to Broader Network of Technology and Packaging Companies in China
The shareholders of a Chinese company accused of manufacturing and exporting close to 500,000 counterfeit N95 masks to the United States are linked to several additional Chinese companies operating in a variety of industries, according to public records. These...
Public Records Highlight Global Network of Company Tied to Uyghur Forced Labor
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) recently added 11 Chinese companies implicated in human rights abuses committed against the Uyghur population and other Muslim minorities in China — specifically forced labor — to its Entity List....
Trade Data Reveal Shipments to Sudanese Mining Company Linked to Russian Paramilitary Group
A recently sanctioned Sudanese mining company linked to a prominent Russian paramilitary organization received over 800 shipments from five Russia-based businesses in the last three years, according to commercial trade data. The shipments included different types of...
Recent Article Suggests U.S. Cash Flows to Iraqi Dollar Auction Inadvertently Supports Bad Actors
The New York Times Magazine published an article last week covering what the author calls the Iraqi kleptocracy — a structure unintentionally reinforced by a yearly injection of cash from the United States into Iraq’s banking sector. In light of this reporting, we are...
U.S.-Sanctioned Xinjiang Paramilitary Has Over 800,000 Holdings Worldwide
On Friday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC) for their role in human rights abuses against Uyghurs in what is potentially one of the largest single actions in...
Company Linked to Alleged Covid-19 Relief Fraud Maintains Several Trade Names in Florida
Federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint last Friday against a Florida-based businessman, alleging that he fraudulently obtained close to $4 million from a government-sponsored coronavirus relief program. David Tyler Hines controlled four South Florida-based...
Jordanian Businessman Implicated in Corruption Scheme Maintains Vast Real Estate Network in the UK
Popular protests and the Jordanian government’s recent actions targeting high-ranking officials accused of corruption have led to renewed interest in the case of Walid Ismael Najam Al-Din Al-Kurdi. The Jordanian-British businessman was charged in a corruption scheme...
Swiss Banks Request Former Director of Kuwait’s Pension Fund to be Tried in Switzerland
Two Swiss banks are calling for Fahad Al-Rajaan, a Kuwaiti businessman and the former Director General of the Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS), to be extradited and tried in Switzerland, UAE media reports. Al-Rajaan fled to the UK in 2014 after a...
Contracts to Ghosts in Guanajuato: The Ongoing Struggle to Rein in ‘Ghost’ Companies in Mexico
A report published earlier this year uncovered that various government agencies, public educational institutions, and autonomous organizations from the central Mexican state of Guanajuato awarded over $8 million in contracts in the last five years to shell companies...
Trade Data Reveals Iran’s Aluminum Supply-Chain from China, India, Guinea
Chinese and Indian state-owned enterprises are key players in Iran’s aluminum supply chain, according to public records and commercial trade data provided by Panjiva. Investigations into several Iranian facilities indicate routine foreign support at each stage of the...
Rusal Calls for Overhaul of Nornickel Management Citing Repeated Ecological Crises
Russian aluminum titan Rusal issued a statement on Tuesday calling for the complete overhaul of the Nornickel mining company’s management following a recent series of ecological disasters caused by the company. Rusal (United Company Rusal PLC), a major shareholder of...
Public Records Show Network of Iraqi Businessman Linked to Saddam Hussein
A prominent Iraqi family with a history of helping former President Saddam Hussein procure illicit goods from the 1990s into the early 2000s maintains an active commercial network in the UAE, Jordan, Iraq, and Turkey. The Al-Handal family helped Saddam skirt United...
Sayari Announces Series B Extension with In-Q-Tel, MissionOG, and TFX Capital
Washington D.C. - Sayari Labs, Inc., a global leader in financial intelligence and supply chain risk solutions, today announced a $2.5M extension to its $9M Series B funding round, with investments from In-Q-Tel, MissionOG, and TFX Capital. They join current investors...
Replacing Mahan Air: Iran’s Aviation Procurement Scheme Via Armenia Airways
An Armenian airline facilitated the purchase and transfer of multiple aircraft containing U.S.-manufactured components and parts to Iran, according to public records. These transfers could be in violation of U.S. export control regulations. Since 2019, Armenia Airways...
Intellectual Property Theft From the US to China: The Case of Shan Shi
A U.S. company that recently pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets is connected to a broader corporate network spanning multiple jurisdictions, according to public records. Given the company’s alleged involvement in stealing trade secrets, other entities operating...
In the Grace I’s Wake: Ship Managers, Front Companies, and Iran (Part 3)
We continue with Part 3 of our investigation into the Grace I, a Panama-flagged oil tanker seized off the coast of Gibraltar last July while shipping 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil to Syria. You can read the introduction here. In Part 1, we looked into the...
Public Records Link Alleged Colombian Drug Trafficker to ‘Pablo Escobar of Ecuador’
An alleged drug trafficker who previously operated out of southwestern Colombia is linked to a corporate network involving one of Ecuador’s biggest cocaine kingpins, according to public records. Given their connections to alleged or known drug traffickers, the active...
Defendants and Front Companies Named in DOJ Indictment Operate Additional Active Companies and Trade with North Korea
On May 28, the United States Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against 26 North Korean and Chinese individuals for processing at least $2.5 billion in illegal payments between 2013 and 2020. These individuals, all employees of North Korea’s Foreign Trade...
Tracking a Princess: Using Public Records to Trace the Assets of Africa’s Richest Woman
In December 2019, prosecutors in Angola froze the assets of billionaire Angolan businesswoman Isabel José dos Santos. She is set to be charged with crimes related to enriching herself at the expense of the state. Although dos Santos hails from a country where nearly...
In the Grace I’s Wake: Ship Management and Sanctions Evasion (Part 2)
This is the second in a series on Iranian sanctions evasion in the maritime shipping industry. Follow these links to read the intro and part 1 of the series. We continue our investigation into the Grace I, a Panama-flagged oil tanker seized off the coast of Gibraltar...
Public Records Tie Alleged Venezuelan Money Launderer to Over $5 Million in Property, Companies in Hong Kong
A contractor for subsidiaries of Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), who was charged in March with money laundering is connected to over $5 million in property spanning Florida and California, along with five previously unidentified...
In the Grace I’s Wake: Who Owned the Grace I? (Part 1)
This is the first in a series on Iranian sanctions evasion in the maritime shipping industry. In case you missed it, you can read the introduction here. Part 1: Our investigation into the Grace I’s ownership leads to an Emirati family with a history of supporting...
In the Grace I’s Wake: Countering Sanctions Evasion and Illicit Shipping
Last July, British Royal Marines and Gibraltar authorities seized the Grace I, a Panama-flagged oil tanker carrying 2.1 million barrels of crude oil. They suspected the vessel of shipping Iranian oil to Syria in contravention of European Union sanctions. There was no...
Cross-Border Registration and Continued Due Diligence: The Case of Chen Mingfu
In January 2016, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Chen Mingfu, a Chinese national, and his Hong Kong-based company, Anhui Land Group Co. Ltd for allegedly supporting Iran’s ballistic missile program. A year...
U.S. Government Issues Advisory on Deceptive Shipping Practices
The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the U.S. Coast Guard issued an advisory on May 14 regarding illicit shipping and sanctions evasion practices. The advisory, directed at the trade and...