The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "blackmail" ...
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Hidden Wealth of Azerbaijan President
The President of oil-rich Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, has been compared to a Mafia crime boss in US diplomatic cables, and man analysts refer to him as a dictator. OCCRP looked deeper than those labels and found that the Aliyev family has systematically grabbed shares of the most profitable businesses in the country. Investigative reports by OCCRP and Radio Free Europe have revealed and more importantly proven for the first time that the ruling family has secret ownership stakes through offshore companies in the country’s largest businesses, including banks, construction companies, gold mines and phone companies. The government Aliyev runs gave these shares. The family also has secretly amassed high-end property in places like the Czech Republic. The Azeri government responded to the revelations first with silence and now claims that OCCRP is an agent of the rival Armenian government. Aliyev’s administration also failed to investigate the harassment and blackmail of OCCRP and RFE journalist Khadija Ismayilova earlier this year. While Azerbaijan has worked at improving its image worldwide, OCCRP’s reporting makes clear that a petty dictatorship remains in control.
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Bad Detective
In Orange County, incarcerated defendants representing themselves in court had no choice but to hire one well-connected private investigator who mostly just pressured them to take deals offered by prosecutors. In at least one case, the investigator blackmailed an inmate to accept a plea deal.
Tags: courts; private investigator; blackmail; plea bargain; law enforcement
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The Bust
A Salvadorian immigrant woman is asked to give $5,000 to a state prison guard so he will let her husband free. The husband had cashed $700 in hot checks and that is why he was in prison. The woman contacted a Hispanic police officer. The police decided to set a trap for the prison guard. They hid and invited the news crew along. They put a wireless microphone on the Salvadorian woman. The authorities caught the prison guard on audio and videotape as he was taking the money from the woman, and promising the prisoner would not be deported. The prison guard was arrested and the husband of the Salvadorian woman was released when his term was up. The prison guard was sentenced to 6 years on probation.
Tags: TAPE; jail guard; jail; immigrant; police; police officer; hot check; check; sentence; INS; probation; deportation; hidden camera; hidden microphone; wired; liberty; blackmail.
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Untouchable: A Swiss Probe Finds A Kremlin Connection and a Wall of Silence. Case Ties Putin's Old Boss to Money Laundering, But Russians Are No Help
Russian Prime Minister Vladmir Putin vowed to combat corruption within the government, but the case of his former boss, Pavel Borodin, indicates that some government figures are still untouchable. Swiss authorities massed more than 100,000 documents and mountains of evidence concerning Mercata, a "Swiss-based, Russian-run company" that received millions in Kremlin construction contracts, but are having difficulty proving the banker's knowingly intended to launder money. Russia's prosecutor general, Mr. Skuratov, who should have investigated the case, was blackmailed with a video showing him in bed with two women. He resigned. Few think Borodin has much to fear with Putin in power.
Tags: Kremlin; KGB; corruption; Russia; Putin; Swiss bank accounts; bribes; Central Banks; UN anticrime agency; offshore companies
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Preserve Democracy: Rein in the Lawyers
An American Enterprise investigation of the United States' legal system reveals that "money-minded attorneys" are using their capital and political power to influence state and federal legislation and to "tear down traditional walls to litigation." "This process feeds on itself to deepen the circle of influence and corruption. Through their political donations... trial lawyers in some states will 'be able to completely control the elected judiciary and be able to pick and choose the places they want to sue and blackmail industries into settlement.'" American Enterprise attempts to explain how the legal system has become corrupt and offers some solutions to the problems.
Tags: legal system; trial lawyers; attorneys; class-action lawsuits; money; politics; state legislatures
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Tabloid turncoat
The Editor & Publisher investigation told the story of how a reporter for the Globe supermarket tabloid was asked to use illegal news-gathering techniques by the tabloid's editors for the JonBenet Ramsey story.
Tags: tabloids ethics libel blackmail extortion editorial process sources
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Prescription 4 Trouble
Fox News/Fox Files reports that "... Each time a prescription is filled a mountain of paperwork is created, much of which requires disposal. The documentation generated is supposed to be kept as part of the pharmacy's confidential patient record. At the major pharmacy chains we investigated they were dumping the excess paperwork in unsecured trash containers - a clear violation of patient confidentiality...."
Tags: TAPE TRANSCRIPT privacy medical records identity theft blackmail junkies
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No title (id: 12866)
For four months, KSTP probed the home remodeling industry. Our investigation revealed how some remodelers blackmailed their customers, tearing apart their homes during Minnesota's harsh winters, then threatening to leave if they weren't paid more money. KSTP found that one company was an alleged front for drug dealing. The investigation also revealed that state regulators not only knew about these con-artist contractors, but didn't use their powers to stop them. KSTP found that state officials issued licenses to contractors they knew were crooked. (Nov. 28 - 29, 1995)
Tags: Grover Razig Hill CAR Dreams destroyed Contest entry 10 pgs. TAPE
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Masterpieces and the Mob
ARTnews reports that "Italy has long captured the public imagination as a place where crime and corruption flourish, but in recent years ties to the art world have made for a whole new brand of scandal. An ex-prime minister stands accused of cultural theft; masterpieces are routinely "kidnapped" for ransom; and the police face an uphill battle to halt the illicit removal of art."
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No title (id: 8557)
New Times (Phoenix) writes of a Mesa policeman who sexually molested his daughter and disclosed a sex ring in the police force after he was arrested for his crime; the officer would encourage fellow officers to have sex with his wife in order to be able to blackmail them, Nov. 6 - 12, 1991.
Tags: None