@byrobdavies.bsky.social
Guardian reporter and author of Jackpot: How Gambling Conquered Britain.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialBeen to better train stations. Been to worse ones. To be honest, this one is roughly as I expected it to be.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialLastly, I should say that I haven't posted even half of the stories we ran in relation to these projects. For more check out our dedicated pages for the Cyprus Confidential and Oligarch Files projects.
www.theguardian.com/business/ser... and www.theguardian.com/world/series...
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialExcuse me, posting from a tiny train shuddering its way through the Cornwall countryside. This is the correct link for the art story...
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialExcuse me, posting from a tiny train shuddering its way through the Cornwall countryside. This is the correct link for that one.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialWithout his forensic investigative mind, a fair few of these stories, the latest revelations in particular, would never have seen the light of day. If you had something to hide, he's the last man you'd want looking into it. If you were investigating it, he's the first.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialAll of these stories took hundreds of hours of collaborative work, involving journalists across multiple countries, editors, sub-editors, designers and - perhaps most importantly - lawyers. All deserve huge credit.
But I reserve a special mention for @simonlock.bsky.social of @tbij.bsky.social...
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialAs well as calculating how he may owe HMRC £1bn in unpaid taxes due to the organisation of his sprawling network of hedge fund investments.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialLast year, we revealed how Abramovich appeared to dodge tax on the cost of running his fleet of superyachts.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialReturning to football, we also showed how Abramovich teamed up with super-agent Pini Zahavi to trade young players via secret companies, as if they were cattle.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialSome of the most fascinating revelations were about the $1bn art collection that Abramovich amassed and how majority beneficial ownership was transferred to his ex-wife, Dasha Zhukova, shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialWe also uncovered how Abramovich used secret offshore companies to pay agents in apparent connection with the landmark transfers that catapulted Chelsea to the top of world football. Both the FA and Premier League found the club broke the rules but imposed paltry fines.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialThe project stretches all the way back to January 2023 and this story, about how Abramovich shifted beneficial ownership of his trusts to his children, just before he was sanctioned by the UK and EU over his closeness to Vladimir Putin, in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialLatest in a three-year-long seam of reporting by the Guardian, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the BBC and international media partners. The project, known as Cyprus Confidential, was co-led by the ICIJ and Paper-Trail Media, based on documents first shared by Distributed Denial of Secrets.
@simonlock.bsky.socialReposted by @byrobdavies.bsky.socialMy latest on Roman Abramovich, and how his hidden web of offshore companies dodged tax and concealed assets - all with the help of the Big Four's Deloitte: Findings include: Backdated trust agreements to make $2bn of interest-earning cash appear to belong to another (BVI) company, escaping tax.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialRumbled.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialThree years of work tracing the questionable finances of the Russian oligarch and former Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich continues.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialThe arc of the football universe is long but it bends absolutely miles away from justice, sorry.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialWill always remember him being clean through against Arsenal, opening his body up to curl it round the keeper Henry-style, and shanking it into the crowd.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialI realise the game is important for you but the rest of us are just tuning in for the chants. Don't let us down.
@byrobdavies.bsky.socialA lot of those shirts you saw are pretty much box fresh.
