Understanding global corruption and power dynamics is a complex challenge, with researchers often struggling to find reliable tools to uncover hidden networks of influence. Follow the Money by YouControl is a search engine that helps trace financial flows, uncover connections, and analyse complex financial networks to promote transparency and accountability.
It integrates data from various sources, such as corporate registries and financial statements, court decisions, and international databases. This tool allows users to identify and map business, individual, and asset relationships across jurisdictions. Users can explore ownership structures, assess risks of financial irregularities, detect hidden beneficiaries, and identify potential fraud or money laundering cases. This granular and accessible approach empowers scholars, businesses, journalists, and regulators to follow financial trails systematically and uncover irregularities with greater precision.
As of November 2024, it covers 85 364 919 companies in 74 countries, 77 247 444 individuals, and 172 409 646 entities using 292 sources.
The tool is particularly valued for its ability to operate across international boundaries, ensuring cross-border transparency in tracking capital movement. This makes it indispensable in investigating global corruption networks or illicit financial activities related to shell companies, sanctioned individuals, or high-risk financial entities.
For researchers, journalists, and activists investigating networks of influence, this tool can:
• Identify an individual’s stake in private and public companies.
• Map relationships between entities to reveal hidden patterns.
• Highlight connections to politically exposed persons (PEPs).
Its advantage lies in its ability to transform all this complex information into user-friendly visualisations with external links to cross-reference the data provided.
Mapping Roman Abramovich’s network
Let’s explore how this tool works using the example of Roman Abramovich, a Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman and politician, a politically exposed person sanctioned by several countries.
Follow the link: https://app.youcontrol.world/ and enter the name of the person or entity of interest.
Abramovich amassed his fortune during the 1990s privatisation era under Boris Yeltsin. Through his close connections to influential political figures, including his reported ties to Vladimir Putin, Abramovich secured lucrative state assets, most notably the oil company Sibneft, at a fraction of their value. His wealth and influence extended beyond Russia, where he invested heavily in real estate, luxury assets, and ventures like Chelsea FC. While Abramovich denies direct political involvement, his business dealings and proximity to the Kremlin have drawn scrutiny, especially following sanctions imposed by Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Ukraine, the United States and Japan after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
YouControl’s tool generates a detailed graph that maps Abramovich’s connections to individuals, companies, and government agencies. Each link is categorised, and risk-level indicators highlight potentially problematic ties.
The user can identify influence patterns by analysing these connections and using the platform’s integrated external links to access additional data such as ownership, directorship and memberships.
The image clearly illustrates the strong connection between Abramovich and Eugene Tenenbaum. Tenenbaum, a Canadian businessman, is a trusted and longtime associate of the Russian-Israeli oligarch. He plays a crucial role in overseeing Abramovich’s global financial and business interests. These findings allow for building connections between individuals and entities worldwide.
How to use Follow the Money effectively
1. Know what you are looking for: The tool works best when researchers start with a clear focus, such as names, companies, or sectors tied to the subject of interest.
2. Analyse the visualisations: It creates visual maps of relationships once the data is loaded. Researchers can uncover hidden influence patterns by focusing on recurring names or entities within the network.
3. Cross-verify data: While YouControl aggregates data from various sources, it is essential to cross-check findings with independent reports, news articles, or official records.
4. Use the support agent: If you encounter a problem or have questions, a support agent is available on the platform.
Tools like Follow the Money bring much-needed transparency in a world where corruption thrives in secrecy. This platform is invaluable for uncovering patterns of elite capture, exposing hidden power structures, and holding those in positions of power accountable.