Uncovering the Truth and Hidden Networks

Understanding the complexities of global corruption and power dynamics is challenging. Researchers often struggle to find effective tools to expose hidden networks of influence. Follow the Money, a search engine developed by YouControl, is designed to trace financial flows and uncover relationships, offering the ultimate solution to detect fraud, ensure transparency, and promote accountability.

Start to Find Insights

Launched in 2024, Follow the Money began as a tool to investigate suspicious oligarchs, politicians, and companies. Now integrated within the BridgeGap website, this platform builds upon YouControl’s proprietary YC World system. Setting a new standard in transparency, interactivity, and the impact of corruption research allows users to conduct comprehensive investigations.

Users on the BridgeGap website can search for companies or individuals by various identifiers, such as name, phone number, email, website, address, or tax number. This leads them directly to the YC World system, providing valuable insights into ownership and illicit influence. The tool focuses on identifying business links between companies and individuals, primarily through commercial registers in countries such as the European Union, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Belarus.

The Power of Data: 20 New Datasets

As part of the BridgeGap project, YouControl has added 20 important datasets to YC World to support its investigative capabilities, including:

  • Ukrainian state registry (full daily updates)
  • Romanian National Trade Register
  • Cyprus Register of Companies
  • Malta Business Registry (MBR)
  • Bulgarian Commercial register
  • Latvia company register
  • List of current Members of the European Parliament
  • Registered EU lobby organisations
  • European Parliament lobby meetings
  • European Commission lobby meetings
  • Political party finance (Netherlands)
  • Political party finance (Latvia)
  • Political party finance (Italy)
  • UK State registry (Company House)
  • Bulgarian Persons of Interest
  • Russia Federal Tax Registry (EGRUL)
  • Russia Unified State Register of Individual Entrepreneurs (EGRIP)
  • RuPEP
  • Russian PEPs Archive 2015-2018
  • UA PEPs (the consolidated registry created from 8 data sources including 2 archive ones).

To access these datasets, users must have login credentials, which can be obtained by contacting YC World team here.

Why Follow the Money Matters

Follow the Money is more than just a tool: it embodies a principle that is essential in today’s interconnected world. As financial networks become increasingly complex, this platform empowers organizations, governments, and civil society to uncover corruption, expose bad actors, and identify harmful connections.

As Natalia Chornogub, Head of Government Relations at YouControl, says:

“Our inclusion in the BridgeGap project reflects our unwavering commitment to combating terrorism, Russian aggression, and unethical practices worldwide. Through our tools, we analyze, visualize, and highlight toxic connections and risks that can cause financial or reputational harm. By doing so, we promote transparency and accountability, which are especially critical during the ongoing war in Ukraine. This work supports Ukraine’s reconstruction processes and strengthens the trust of our partners and stakeholders.”

In-depth Analysis and Creation of Investigation Projects

Originally launched in 2022 as RuAssets to track Russian assets, YC World underwent significant updates in the last year to enhance its capabilities. One of the most powerful features is the graph-based visualization of current connections, offering a new level of data analysis. Users can now quickly identify interdependencies and links between various entities—whether organizations, individuals, or events.

Recent updates include an expanded search for companies, individuals, aircraft, and vessels, dynamic filters, and various export formats (JPG, PDF, YCW, CSV). Additionally, users can import investigations from local devices and utilize a project-sharing function. YC World also integrates automatic transliteration, a key feature, considering the growing need for efficient cross-language data handling. This functionality enables easy searching for company and personal names written in Cyrillic, automatically converting them to Latin characters and vice versa. It enhances search efficiency, simplifies international counterparty verification, and helps avoid data loss due to spelling discrepancies.

The system also highlights key risks, such as connections to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), sanctions, and links to high-risk countries.

Time for Partnerships and Networking

YC World is invaluable for compliance officers, CEOs, operational directors, business owners, AML and KYC specialists, law enforcement agencies, government authorities, journalists, and independent investigators. With over 3,000 active users, YC World continues to grow, and the team is open to collaboration and partnerships on this exciting journey toward uncovering the truth.

Tools such as Follow the Money provide essential transparency in a world where corruption often operates in the shadows. This platform plays a crucial role in revealing patterns of elite control, uncovering concealed power dynamics, and ensuring accountability for those in positions of authority.

Learn how to use the tool Follow the Money below: