DARC is building a new kind of newsroom.
‘It’s a mad, vital profession that needs to be protected…’ – Amelia Tait, Freelance Journalist [Source: Press Gazette]
When asked to think of the biggest threat to journalism today, it’s easy to answer: ‘fake news’. It would be easy to use any overlapping term too: ‘hoax news’, ‘pseudo-news’, ‘junk news’, ‘alternative facts’ or more frankly, ‘bullsh*t’. It might be unclear whether we refer to genuinely misleading information, or just to stories we find damaging to somebody or something we like. Still, MIT research shows genuinely misleading ‘false news’ travels faster than true stories – and humans, not bots, are primarily responsible for spreading mis- and disinformation that’s 70% more retweetable than the truth.
However, other reports suggest the fact that true stories take six times as long to reach 1,500 people is not a cause, but a symptom of our media ecosystem’s lingering malaise. Back in reality, ‘fake news’ can be estimated as low as 0.15% in Americans’ daily media diet. What this reveals is more sinister. Misinformedness and polarization don’t come from the content of news people are consuming; they come from what they’re not. People just don’t trust the news like they should, and are avoiding it altogether.
‘News avoidance’ may not roll off the tongue like ‘fake news’. Yet statistics show journalists are becoming increasingly aware of public fatigue and frustration with the (perceived or legitimate) untrustworthiness of traditionally ironclad news juggernauts. Almost two thirds of journalists in a global survey believed the public lost trust in media in the last year. More than 70 percent of publishers worldwide admitted they were “worried”.
‘Independent journalism is now the way forward… Sadly, we can no longer rely on legacy media to hold the powerful accountable.’ – Dan Rather, journalist and former star CBS News anchor. [Source: AP News]
The last question anybody wants to hear asked over and over is whether, in the current climate of financial and other difficulties, independent journalism remains viable as a career. Most independent journalists are working to break stories without an in-house team — a reality that significantly shapes their process. Without access to dedicated researchers, data analysts, or legal advisors, freelancers will often have to juggle every part of their investigative workflow alone, making large-scale or data-heavy investigations overwhelmingly difficult, especially when the painstaking task of verification is under the spotlight.
Yet, these journalists still do. They’ll make ingenious use of collaboration, open-source tools, painstaking verification methods and external networks to fill the gaps left by the absence of traditional newsroom infrastructure. Not that this culture is in the best of health either; the growing ‘musical chairs’ hiring practice at established newspapers and magazines is leading more reporters to become independents, once their jobs have been slashed by billionaire bosses.
‘In the words of an anonymous wit: “Journalism: the pay sucks and the hours are long. But at the end of the day, everybody hates you.”...’ – Ralph Jones, Freelance Journalist [Source: Press Gazette]
Journalism matters, because the truth matters. The (occasionally thankless) work of journalists - especially independent ones - is vital to the functioning of our society. That’s why as traditional newsrooms shrink and independent journalists struggle without the resources of in-house teams, the investigative landscape is fighting back against a perfect storm of underfunding and burnout – and OSINT Industries is proud to lend our support.
Meet Karina at DARC, an OSINT-Powered Research Solution.
‘Delivering the reliability of an in-house team with the convenience of a monthly subscription…’ – Data and Research Center (DARC) [Source: DARC]
Welcome to the DARC side. Data and Research Center (DARC) is a brand new organization delivering bespoke data reporting and research for investigative journalists, by investigative journalists. Built by the people who know the field best, DARC’s flexible, expert-driven solutions are intended to help investigative journalists, NGOs, civil society organizations, and select corporate clients undertake investigative projects bigger and better than before.
Their work spans from tracking assets – like real estate, private planes, boats and corporate records – to locating people, mapping web ownerships and affiliations, analyzing import/export metadata, or geolocating images and videos; all in the name of finding the facts, and verifying the truth. Today, this is vital work, and DARC have begun publicly developing OpenAleph (an open-source document search engine) to make it easier for their clients to access all the information they need. DARC also runs future-proof OSINT training, hosting group hackathons focused on building investigative tooling, and indepth classes teaching command line for journalists, cryptocurrency tracing, how to utilize AI most effectively in investigations and more skills to prepare journalists for a higher-tech information landscape.
Not all journalists have the luxury of an in-house team, but with DARC, this doesn’t need to hold them back. DARC has provided assistance on several high-impact investigative projects that expose global corruption, and challenge our understanding of how industries and organizations shape our world. These include:
Project 1: Die Migrations-Manager (The Migration Managers) for FragDenStaat / How an EU-funded agency is working to keep migrants from reaching Europe for Coda
European Union border control organizations say they’re 'Making Migration Better'. Journalists provided DARC with leaked documents (promptly uploaded into a dedicated Aleph instance) to expose this is far from the truth. Data showed a partnership between the EU and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), an organization investigated for 'discriminatory, racist, and human rights-violating migration policies' and 'extremely violent, dehumanizing, and excessive' tactics. DARC research showed this 'seemingly invisible organization' directly and indirectly influences European migration policy and asylum laws, and this has orchestrated some of the most abhorrent strategies for migrant border control, asylum seeker detainment and deportation, refugee monitoring within Europe, oppression of journalism activity, and more.'
Project 2: How much does the fossil fuel industry fund medical research? for the British Medical Journal / Who gets paid by the pharmaceutical industry? for FollowTheGrant
What if making us better is making the world worse? This project was part of DARC’s overarching FollowTheGrant project – building an open-source database of more than 4.9 million medical articles from 27,000 journals worldwide, including work by around 8.5 million authors, to reveal potential conflicts of interest to journalistic scrutiny. Over three years, the project has exposed that these conflicts are 'widely under-reported in scientific literature', and revealed which industries and institutions are the worst culprits.
Analysis featured in the BMJ cross-referenced funding information and acknowledgements within medical articles with well-known fossil fuel companies. DARC provided other assistance too: 'everything from scraping a diverse range of data sources… to smartening up the data', and operating a custom Aleph instance to improve accessibility for investigators. As a result, 'relations between affiliated research organizations and industry players' in the most polluting industry became crystal clear. Research showed that in six years, more than 180 medical articles had acknowledged funding by the fossil fuel industry – while an additional 1000 articles’ authors worked for a fossil fuel company or related enterprise.
Project 3: Where do our old sneakers end up? SneakerJagd for flip. / NDR / DerZeit
Europeans discard millions of shoes a year. Where do they go? To help find an answer to this question, this project bugged eleven pairs of sneakers from German celebrities with GPS trackers, generating data on the recycling cycle of the shoes and their whereabouts. Sneakerjagd's mission is to 'shine light over the sneaker industry and fact check the sustainability promises of manufacturers and recyclers'.
Faced with the task of 'wrangl[ing] and clean[ing] up huge amounts of raw satellite data' DARC created and developed a custom data pipeline solution for this anti-greenwashing initiative. The resulting data visualisation is an ongoing mapping project that tracks the fate of some of the 2.5 billion sneakers produced (and eventually thrown away) each year.
As a co-founder of DARC and now Director of Research, Karina S. is a key player in enabling these impactful investigations to go ahead. She’s also a passionate OSINT-powered journalist in her own right. Before coming to DARC, Karina headed up the OCCRP’s research and data team, aiding intrepid journalists in tracking elusive people, obscure companies and hidden assets in high-stakes global investigations. In her eight years exposing organized crime and corruption, her research contributed to countless award-winning investigations and cross-border projects: Dubai Unlocked, the Russian Asset Tracker, the FinCEN Files, OpenLux and the renowned Paradise Papers. Shockwaves sparked by these investigations continue to make change and inspire new projects to this day, cited by journalists all over the world.
One tool Karina routinely relies upon in her daily workflow at DARC is OSINT Industries. In recognition of the role our tool plays in her team’s great work, Karina gave us an exclusive glimpse under the hood, exemplifying the typical OSINT methodology this crack team deploys on a daily basis, and the vital role OSINT Industries plays in DARC’s OSINT research process.
Luxury Abroad, Poverty at Home?: OSINT and 2720 Ellison Drive
Rwanda's president since 2000, Paul Kagame is at the very least a polarizing figure. Although credited for his role in ending Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and subsequent economic growth, Kagame has also overseen a regime characterized by democratic backsliding, human rights abuses, and repression of political and journalistic opposition. The Kagame government has been linked with suspected dissident assassination attempts, and funding rebel groups destabilizing other regions of Africa for resource exploitation. A controversial constitutional amendment referendum allows Kagame to remain in place until at least 2034.
President Kagame’s 30-year-old son, Ivan Kagame, was appointed last year to the board of Rwanda's investment agency, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB). Directly reporting to the president, this organ is intended to promote the country’s private sector growth investment prospects; the RDB recently coordinated high-profile 'Visit Rwanda' sleeve sponsorship deals with international soccer teams Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain. Rwanda, although as the RSB’s website rightly describes the 6th fastest growing economy in Africa, is a country in dire need of private investment. With 80% public debt, low incomes and widespread poverty – placing 160th out of 174 countries on the Human Capital Index – the World Bank describes Rwanda ‘will require greater reliance on private sector investment to enhance productivity growth, raise incomes, and provide the financing to address infrastructure shortfalls.’
Meanwhile, a rumor arose that Ivan Kagame owned overseas property: a spacious villa-style property in Beverly Hills, California.
Over half of Rwanda’s population subsists on less than $1.90 a day. If Paul Kagame’s son – seated on the Development Board of the world’s 23rd poorest country – is buying property just off Rodeo Drive, this could raise several concerns. The least of these would be accusations of hypocrisy. High-end property purchases abroad by a ruling family, if the source of funds is not transparent, raise questions of their own; about misuse of public funds, corruption, or an increasing pattern in which authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes seek to stash their wealth away in Western real estate. These purchases are often red flags for investigators and watchdogs – and a fruitful lead for OSINT investigators.
As one of the journalists behind the legendary Paradise Papers, Karina was uniquely situated when DARC received a request to verify whether it was likely Ivan Kagame really owned property at 2720 Ellison Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210.
Walls of Glass, Canyon Views: Tracing a Property’s Past
‘This fabulous Italian Villa hilltop estate is sited behind gates and up a private drive... Soaring ceilings, skylights and walls of glass… open to the remarkable and completely private backyard providing the ultimate in indoor/outdoor living…’ – A realtor’s description of the Beverly Hills property. [Source: The Pinnacle List]
Karina immediately began researching. For the property at 2720 Ellison Drive, 'mansion' would be a more appropriate descriptor than 'home'.
Behind high-security gates and at the end of a private drive, this enormous neoclassical property features four bedrooms and six bathrooms, a ‘spectacular master suite with his and hers bathrooms’, ‘dual walk-in closets’ and an ‘absolutely stunning gourmet eat-in kitchen.’ That’s to say nothing of the outdoor kitchen, which sits alongside a glittering swimming pool, home spa and massage room, fire pit and ‘mature landscaping, including towering palms’ to ‘evoke a 5-star resort feel’. Listings also mention a ‘high tech Crestron system for sound, lighting and TV’ that doesn’t distract from ‘charming canyon views’; the 3-car garage features a Tesla charger. Before selling the property after the breakdown of their engagement, previous celebrity athlete owners Lindsay Vonn and PK Subban no doubt appreciated the multiple HD camera system for ‘high security needs’ – and the Lifesource water filtration system for mixing sports drinks.
The 5,500sq ft property had reportedly sold for $6,950,000.
Accomplished in tracing assets, Karina’s first step was to find out who handled the sale. The best way to do so was to source the property’s grant deed. The grant deed displayed the ownership of 2720 Ellison Drive transferring from California realtor Oakwood Real Estate Holdings LLC to DreamMaker Real Estate Consulting LLC, a firm registered in Nevada. A look into the Nevada business registry provided Karina with a name for the registered agent and manager of DreamMaker: Tanasha Pettigrew.
Armed with an LLC and an agent, Karina could deploy a US-specific real-estate OSINT tool to search American real estate records ‘all in one go’, to see whether there were other properties connected to the real estate company. When she searched DreamMaker Real Estate Consulting, two Californian addresses appeared under their ownership: 5200 White Oak Ave #9, Encino, CA 91316 and 2720 Ellison Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210.
Now to investigate the agent. A quick exploratory search into Tanasha Pettigrew showed her listed as a working real estate agent affiliated with The Hills Premier Realty, also known as the ‘Real Estate Dream Maker’. Among her sold listings: 2720 Ellison Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210. Again, Tanasha Pettigrew was the realtor that facilitated the property’s sale – and among her clients, ‘A-list athletes’.
Time to pivot back to the Nevada business registry. Here, Karina hoped the OSINT would be able to connect Ivan Kagame to any companies, or any properties, that could draw a line between him, Tanasha Pettigrew and thus Ellison Drive. It was already clear which companies were listed under Tanasha’s stewardship. Now, using the registry’s officer name search function, she keyed in Ivan Kagame’s name.
Two Nevada companies listed Ivan Kagame as an officer: The Blue Twenty Three Group LLC, and Twenty Four Consulting LLC.
The DreamMaker: Who Is Keilya Greene?
To find Kagame listed in this registry was unexpected, but a valuable lead for Karina’s investigation. Looking into Twenty Four Consulting LLC, she saw the company profile lists the registered agent as 'Keilya Greene/Pettigrew', and an address at 8465 Sahara Ave, Suite 111-701, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89117, USA. This company profile didn’t list Pettigrew’s full name – but the address was a direct match somewhere else. Namely, the DreamMaker Real Estate Consulting LLC company documents:
The officer information here also presented the 8465 Sahara Ave address – suggesting a connection between 'Keilya Greene/Pettigrew' and Tanasha Pettigrew. Karina decided to search for Keilya Greene in the Nevada business registry’s registered agent search, to see what other companies she’s officially connected to. The results were 5200 White Oak 9 LLC, and Twenty Four Consulting LLC.
The same agent, the same address, two names – but a connection to Ivan Kagame. Making sure to be thorough, Karina then looked into the company profile for Keilya Greene’s other company, 5200 White Oak 9 LLC. The results were significant; the manager was listed as Tanasha Pettigrew, the ‘Real Estate Dream maker’ herself. According to Karina, this gives us ‘a strong indication that the Keilya Greene/Pettigrew in Ivan Kagame’s company Twenty Four Consulting LLC… is referring to the same Tanasha Pettigrew that is manager of Dreammaker Real Estate Consulting LLC’.
Namely, the Pettigrew in ‘the company that Ivan Kagame is a manager of’, and Tanasha Pettigrew, ‘manager of… the company that owns the property in question that Kagame is suspected of owning’ are very clearly the same person. This is at least a circumstantial connection between Ivan Kagame and 2720 Ellison Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210.
Something ‘even more interesting’ is the address of the other California property attached to DreamMaker Real Estate Consulting: 5200 White Oak Ave #9, Encino, CA 91316, the namesake of the Nevada company shared by Tanasha Pettigrew and Keilya Greene. In the profile for 5200 White Oak 9 LLC, Karina found an email address for Keilya as agent:
With OSINT, this is a lead worth following. Seeking further connections to bolster her conclusions with some SOCMINT, Karina found an Instagram account linked to this email address with the handle @thelovelykeilya – followed by Tanasha Pettigrew.
The White Oak namesake company gave Karina an idea. She decided, just 'to cover all my bases', to search Tanasha Pettigrew in the Nevada business registry’s registered agent search one more time. She found Tanasha Pettigrew was the registered agent of one other company: 2720 Ellison Dr LLC.
Circumstantial but Striking: OSINT Industries and the Modern Newsroom
Another email address: 2720ellisondr@gmail[.]com. The number of email addresses Karina was unearthing was her signal to pivot her investigation again – this time to OSINT Industries. Karina ran this new address through our tool, and the results were surprising:
Connected to this email address was a Google account for 'Ivan Keye'.
Karina had not found direct written proof that Ivan Kagame held ownership of 2720 Ellison Drive, Beverly Hills, CA, 90210. However, she had found circumstantial evidence, with the help of OSINT Industries, that proved Ivan Kagame was part of a tangled web of LLCs and realty agents with this recently-sold, $7 million LLC-owned property as the crux. If her client’s aim was to suggest the possibility of connection, their aim had been achieved.
Asset tracing like this is the painstaking journalistic research that proved crucial in world-changing investigations like the Pandora and Paradise Papers; for Karina, this is all in a day’s work.
Most importantly, however, this case is a clear example of how OSINT Industries’ linking capability fits into Karina’s OSINT methodology. When DARC needs to build connections, OSINT Industries can tap into SOCMINT, GeoInt and records like TrueCaller results to bolster a conclusion with supporting evidence. An independent journalist might not have the hours required to do this, but DARC is here to make sure nothing is missed.
This is why – powered by specialists like Karina and tools like OSINT Industries – DARC represents more than just a research service. DARC is offering an alternative to keep independent journalism alive; a new kind of newsroom – decentralized, OSINT-savvy, but rooted in old-school, tried-and-true investigative rigor. By equipping solo journalists with the technical firepower and verification capacity of a full investigative team, DARC is helping to do what journalism is built to do: to hold the powerful to account.
OSINT Industries is proud to be walking on the DARC side.
UPDATE:
Since time of writing, Karina uncovered a report from Kenyan diaspora news group Mwakilishi.com.
‘Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s first-born son Ivan Kagame has moved into a US$6.9 million mansion in California…The mansion located in the posh Beverly Hills estate in Los Angeles was previously owned by Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn and her former husband, ice hockey star P.K. Subban…’ [Source: Mwakilishi.com]
They found it ‘unclear’ whether Kagame owns the property – presumably from Mwakilishi’s images, descriptions and the estate’s previous ownership 2720 Ellison Drive – or ‘merely rents it’. However, they found indications the property is registered ‘under a company owned by a close associate of Ivan, 31.’ Ivan Kagame began this residence in the property in 2021.
The move was also reported in Kenya’s Citizen Digital, and became a popular topic of discussion on Nigeria’s Nairaland, Tanzania’s JamiiForums, and Twitter (X).
(Ivan Kagame declined to respond to the claims in this article.)
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