From Blacklisted Casinos to a Fake Prince Scam

In February last year, Investigate Europe traced more than 100 blacklisted gambling websites back to Soft2bet, a company based in Malta and Cyprus that built its business on online casinos banned by regulators across Europe. This February, the newsroom returned to the same network from a different entry point: a streamer who got in touch after the first investigation was published.

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He was identified only as Greg. He described how affiliate deals worked, how streamers were paid, and how viewers on YouTube, Twitch and Kick were steered towards the same unlicensed gambling sites that Investigate Europe had already mapped. The newsroom reported that his account was supported by financial documents, casino policies and web-traffic data. What began as an investigation into a hidden network of gambling sites became a second investigation into how customers were being funneled to them.

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OCCRP saw the same thing happen this quarter in a very different story. On 4 February, OCCRP and its Romanian partner Context.ro released a documentary about their investigation into a Nigerian man accused of posing as Dubai’s crown prince to scam a Romanian businesswoman out of $2.5 million. Reporters traced the alleged fraud to a mansion in Abuja and identified the suspect as Nzube Henry Ikeji.

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Six weeks later, the newsroom reported that not only was the suspect taken into custody, another apparent victim had also come forward. The Romanian woman had watched the documentary and contacted Context.ro. She said someone claiming to be the same prince had approached her too. She brought documents suggesting that she had been targeted by the same operation. The follow-up story, published on 16 March, reported both her account and Ikeji’s arrest in Nigeria.

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This is a familiar pattern in investigative journalism. A story goes out. Someone who had stayed silent recognises the scheme, or sees that the reporters understand it well enough to be trusted with more information. Sometimes they bring a message. Sometimes they bring bank records, screenshots, contracts or internal explanations of how the business worked.

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Those follow-up stories are complex to plan neatly in advance. They depend on time, editorial capacity, and sufficient financial resources to continue reporting after publication as new evidence surfaces.

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This has consequences for how investigative journalism is funded. A newsroom that can finance only the first publication may miss the phase that follows it: the calls, the emails, the leaked records, the second victim, the witness who waited to see whether the reporters were serious. None of that arrives on a schedule. But sustained financial backing makes it possible for newsrooms to see investigations through to the end.