How did an Azerbaijani boy end up owning a building in London’s Mayfair that housed a restaurant with two Michelin stars, an art gallery, and the Condé Nast headquarters?

Hint: His father is the country’s president, Ilham Aliyev.

When two of our top editors got hold of the Pandora Papers — a vast trove of leaked documents from offshore service providers — they knew it could provide key insights into how some of the most corrupt people in the world, including rulers of entire countries, hide their wealth.

Miranda Patrucic and Ilya Lozovsky take you behind the scenes of their investigation, which revealed how Azerbaijan’s ruling Aliyev family acquired vast properties in London— and how they even used their children to do it. 

Dirty Deeds is a Little Gem production for OCCRP. The host is Nick Wallis. The producer is Lindsay Riley at Rethink Audio, with research from Phoebe Adler-Ryan and Riham Moussa.

Read the investigation:

• Azerbaijan’s Ruling Aliyev Family and Their Associates Acquired Dozens of Prime London Properties Worth Nearly $700 Million

(The Pandora Papers is a project based on a leak of offshore documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with OCCRP and other media outlets.)

This week’s guests

• Miranda Patrucic - @MirandaOCCRP 
• Ilya Lozovsky - @ichbinilya
• Oliver Bullough - @OliverBullough

Transcript

• Read the transcript on the OCCRP website here.

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