Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 10h“GAO’s analysis of federal award data highlights the hundreds of billions of dollars vulnerable to beneficial ownership-related fraud risks. Awards, such as contracts awarded to foreign businesses, are among those categories that are vulnerable to beneficial ownership fraud risks.” 031
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughKashmir Hill @kashhill.bsky.social · 18hMeta is using a radical interpretation of a tax credit for “research and experimentation” to get billions of dollars off GPUs for its A.I. data centers. My latest with Jesse Drucker, @elitan.bsky.social and @mikeisaac.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2026/09/30/t...nytimes.comHow Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes (Gift Article)Meta is exploiting a lucrative tax break intended to support research and experimentation. Its own accountants say the gambit is risky. 1019398
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughStephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026The New York Department of State is now the 50th source connected to OpenCheck, thanks to its publishing of open corporate data via a live API opencheck.world List of sources: opencheck.world/sources Features: opencheck.world/features #LEI #opendata #openstandards #OSINT 022
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 19h@jessmarindavis.bsky.social Read your MER Substack post and wanted to flag this beneficial ownership exploration project from 2023/24 in case it is of interest 021
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 20hSri Lanka's cabinet has approved changes to the country's 109-year-old trust laws to expose beneficial owners in line with FATF's recommendation 25 www.ft.lk/front-page/C...ft.lkCabinet clears 109-year-old Trust Ordinance overhaul to expose beneficial owners | Daily FTThe Cabinet has approved Gazetting amendments to the 109-year-old Trust Ordinance and submitting them to Parliament, in a move to make the ownership of trusts more transparent and bring the law in lin... 021
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 22hToday is the last day of the pilot project of Switzerland's Transparency Register (TranspaReg) where up to 8000 legal entities have tested submitting their beneficial ownership information ahead of the full TranspaReg launch tomorrow www.transpareg.admin.ch/de/pilot #beneficialownership #UBOtranspareg.admin.chPilotversuchBevor das Bundesgesetz über die Transparenz juristischer Personen und die Identifikation der wirtschaftlich berechtigten Personen (TJPG) in Kraft tritt und das Transparenzregister in den operativen Be... 021
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 23h"Canada should continue to progress the implementation of a pan-Canadian corporate beneficial ownership framework to ensure aligned beneficial ownership obligations, including central beneficial ownership registry or alternative mechanisms, are implemented" www.fatf-gafi.org/content/dam/...fatf-gafi.org 122
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Canada has "considerably advanced its framework for beneficial ownership transparency" but "overall effectiveness is impacted by uneven implementation across provinces and territories", according to the latest report from the Financial Action Task Force www.fatf-gafi.org/content/fatf... 011
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026The New York Department of State is now the 50th source connected to OpenCheck, thanks to its publishing of open corporate data via a live API opencheck.world List of sources: opencheck.world/sources Features: opencheck.world/features #LEI #opendata #openstandards #OSINT 022
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Looking forward to delivering an innovation talk at the EITI conference in Brussels next week eiti.org/eiti2026 I’ll be demonstrating how OpenCheck helps people check beneficial ownership, state ownership and PEPs information for companies in line with EITI requirements opencheck.world 021
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughReuters @reuters.com · 29/09/2026EXCLUSIVE: Anthropic warns AI may pose 'existential risks to humanity' in IPO filing reut.rs/4hvqeY1reut.rsEXCLUSIVE: Anthropic warns AI may pose 'existential risks to humanity' in IPO filingAnthropic plans to caution potential investors in its IPO that advanced AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity," an extraordinary warning by a company seeking to profit from the same technology. 679664
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 29/09/2026𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐰𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐭𝐬 - a new report from the European Union's Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism www.global-amlcft.eu/wp-content/u... #beneficialownership #UBO 011
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughOpen Ownership @openownership.bsky.social · 28/09/2026How can beneficial ownership data be seamlessly connected across borders, and what steps are required to achieve this? Since 2025, over 50 experts from the private sector, international bodies, and civil society have been working to answer this question. www.openownership.org/en/publicati... 112
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Ownership data on the world’s 500 largest corporate groups and their 126,000+ subsidiaries - now published in Beneficial Ownership Data Standard format stephenabbottpugh.medium.com/ownership-da... #beneficialownership #UBO #corporatestructures #opendata #openstandardsstephenabbottpugh.medium.comOwnership data on the world’s largest corporate groups in Beneficial Ownership Data Standard formatNew standardised data on how 126,000+ companies are owned/controlled by the world’s largest 500 multinational enterprises 021
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughStephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain have received infringement notices for not implementing the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive ec.europa.eu/commission/p...ec.europa.euCommission takes action to ensure complete and timely transposition of EU directivesThe European Commission is taking action against several EU Member States that have failed to notify the Commission of measures they have adopted to transpose EU Directives into their national laws. T 122
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughStephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Investigating and uncovering ultimate beneficial owners using Amazon Neptune graph data in Linkurious Enterprise - new on the AWS database blog aws.amazon.com/blogs/databa... #beneficialownership #UBO #graphdatabases #AML #corporatestructuresaws.amazon.comIntuitive risk investigation with Amazon Neptune and Linkurious Enterprise | Amazon Web ServicesLearn how to configure Linkurious Enterprise to connect to Amazon Neptune and give business users intuitive, code-free graph exploration for risk investigation, from setup and full-text search with Am... 022
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Investigating and uncovering ultimate beneficial owners using Amazon Neptune graph data in Linkurious Enterprise - new on the AWS database blog aws.amazon.com/blogs/databa... #beneficialownership #UBO #graphdatabases #AML #corporatestructuresaws.amazon.comIntuitive risk investigation with Amazon Neptune and Linkurious Enterprise | Amazon Web ServicesLearn how to configure Linkurious Enterprise to connect to Amazon Neptune and give business users intuitive, code-free graph exploration for risk investigation, from setup and full-text search with Am... 022
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughDylan Freedman @dylanfreedman.nytimes.com · 25/09/2026EXCLUSIVE: A new report recovers nearly one million link shortener URLs used by OpenAI's agents while hacking Hugging Face. The agents attempt to message other chatbots like Claude, solve CAPTCHAs and exfiltrate Hugging Face's internal Slack messages. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/25/t...nytimes.comHow OpenAI’s Rogue A.I. Agents Tried to Trick a Robot Detector (Gift Article)A new report by a Bay Area start-up called Parse adds new details to an incident that has shocked the A.I. world and led to calls for closer government regulation. 44721
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughPolitico @politico.com · 24/09/2026White House asks OpenAI and Anthropic to hold new models from UK testers until US reviewdlvr.itWhite House asks OpenAI and Anthropic to hold new models from UK testers until US reviewU.K. leaders are calling for a shared set of global principles, even as the White House seeks first access to new models for testing. 52213
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026"Prosecutors allege that Oxygen Forensics portrayed itself to U.S. government customers as an independent American company, while Davydov and four other Russian nationals actually owned and controlled it through a Cyprus-based holding company" www.occrp.org/en/news/us-c... (@occrp.org)occrp.orgUS Charges Tech CEO, Russian Over Hidden OwnershipU.S. prosecutors allege that Oxygen Forensics concealed its Russian ownership and Russia-based software development while selling digital forensic tools to American government agencies, including the ... 021
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I was pleased to be able to deliver a virtual presentation on the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard during an AI and tech workshop on uncovering beneficial ownership in infrastructure organised recently by CoST, @accountlab.bsky.social and @c4ads.org infrastructuretransparency.org/news/cost-an...infrastructuretransparency.orgCoST and partners explore how beneficial ownership data and AI can strengthen infrastructure transparency | CoST – Infrastructure Transparency Initiative 031
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Sigh. The European Commission approved plans in May on common formats for submitting beneficial ownership information across the European Union after a consultation in late 2025 - but now says that adoption of these plans won't take place until Q4 2026 ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...ec.europa.euEuropean Commission - Have your sayEuropean Commission - Have your say 121
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026@openownership.bsky.social @anticorruption.bsky.social @mattcollin.bsky.social @taxjustice.net @transparency-eu.bsky.social @margotmollat.bsky.social @erostomashvili.bsky.social 011
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain have received infringement notices for not implementing the Sixth Anti-Money Laundering Directive ec.europa.eu/commission/p...ec.europa.euCommission takes action to ensure complete and timely transposition of EU directivesThe European Commission is taking action against several EU Member States that have failed to notify the Commission of measures they have adopted to transpose EU Directives into their national laws. T 122
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughFollow the Money EU @ftm.eu · 22/09/2026Curaçao is home to a secretive network of thousands of gambling sites, some illegally targeting customers worldwide. Who is behind them? A hacker obtained confidential documents revealing the identities of their hidden owners.ftm.euCuraçao’s secretive gambling industry exposed in leakLeaked documents have exposed the hidden owners of secretive gambling sites operating from Curaçao, some of whom have amassed huge fortunes. The files also reveal that the Caribbean island’s gaming re... 169
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughTransparency International EU @transparency-eu.bsky.social · 25/09/2026It is becoming increasingly difficult to identify who truly owns a company — and this anonymity is no longer merely incidental, but is being exploited as a tool. 165
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughNikolas Evangelides @evangelides.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Kudos to #Panama (and @globalfishingwatch.org ) for publishing #BeneficialOwnership for its international fishing fleet. A major step for transparency, accountability and against #IUUfishing. GFW press release: globalfishingwatch.org/success-stor... UBO registry: vu.arap.gob.pa/c/index.php/...globalfishingwatch.orgPanama Publishes Ultimate Beneficial Ownership Data for Its International Fishing FleetBy revealing who ultimately profits from vessels flying its flag, Panama is setting a bold new standard for transparency and accountability in global fisheries 1135
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughStephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 16/09/2026New feature on OpenCheck: Watchlist - spot when a company’s record change, without watching the registers stephenabbottpugh.medium.com/watchlist-sp... Powered by delta files from GLEIF and @opensanctions.org #LEI #opendata #openstandards #opensource #sanctions #beneficialownership #UBO #AML #CDDstephenabbottpugh.medium.comWatchlist: spot when a company’s record change, without watching the registersMost beneficial ownership and corporate ownership data is published as a snapshot. You download a file or query an API and you get the… 043
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Looking forward to delivering an innovation talk at the EITI conference in Brussels next month eiti.org/2026-eiti-gl... I’ll show how OpenCheck helps people check beneficial ownership, state ownership and PEPs information for extractive companies in line with EITI requirements opencheck.worldeiti.orgInnovation Talks 011
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 22/09/2026“Two of Russia’s wealthiest men could soon be free to operate inside the EU after the bloc moved to lift restrictions on them and their empires as part of a high-stakes diplomatic play” www.politico.eu/article/eu-r...politico.euEU removes two Russian billionaires from sanctions listAlisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman were cut from the blacklist after capitals yielded to lobbying by France behind closed doors. 021
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughAnti-Corruption Data Collective @acdatacollective.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Thrilled with this collaboration with @pplaaf.bsky.social! The report launched today details 284 US properties, collectively worth nearly $271 million, linked to 61 current and former high-level Nigerian officials, many of whom are implicated in corruption scandals. 073
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Nearly a year after the country exited the Financial Action Task Force's grey list, what do the latest stats tell us about the state of beneficial ownership transparency and UBO information quality in South Africa? lnkd.in/p/e7cweksu #beneficialownership #UBO #FATF 021
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughLucy Fisher @lucyfisher.ft.com · 22/09/2026EXC: AI staff complain of mental toll over fears of threat of society Multiple staff at Britain’s AI Security Institute (AISI) have been signed off work with stress and are undergoing counselling, acc to people familiar with the matter www.ft.com/content/6087...ft.comAI staff complain of mental toll over fears of threat to societyTop researchers at Aisi, OpenAI, Anthropic and Google DeepMind report burnout and stress over developing powerful AI 34118
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughDan Neidle @danneidle.bsky.social · 22/09/2026Nick Candy and Holly Valance. Britain’s most expensive house. A £265m sale. Usual consequence: £32m of stamp duty. But five small flats were included in the sale. By an extraordinary happy accident, that cut the tax by £18.5m. The curious sale of Nick Candy’s mansion A 🧵: 12413207
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughJim Waterson @jim.londoncentric.media · 22/09/2026London’s most expensive house, the Reform UK Treasurer, Holly Valance, one of Labour’s biggest donors, a £265m sale, and a curious loophole we’ve uncovered that could slash the taxes earned from elite London properties. London Centric x Dan Neidle collab. www.londoncentric.media/p/londons-mo...londoncentric.mediaLondon’s most expensive house, Reform UK’s treasurer, and a massively reduced tax billA £265m mansion in the heart of the Chelsea • Sold by billionaire Nick Candy and his ex-wife Holly Valance • Bought by a Labour-donating hedge fund boss • Why was the tax bill so small? 516271
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughChris Cook @chriscook.news · 21/09/2026A big new story from us: a big new leak means that we can put numbers on the scale of A7 -- the Kremlin's huge money-laundering machine. $6.9bn laundered through the international banking system via SWIFT, with $1.1bn sent to StanChart alone. www.ft.com/content/3848...ft.comKremlin-backed forgery scheme moved $6.9bn through global banksFT finds thousands of Russian payments handled by Standard Chartered, Citigroup and other international groups in vast leak from inside fintech A7 5275164
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 21/09/2026The T-rank team has examined some of the challenges that data users face when trying to uncover ultimate beneficial ownership using information from Denmark's Central Business Register (Det Centrale Virksomhedsregister / CVR) trank.no/news/the-dan... #beneficialownership #UBOtrank.noThe Danish Beneficial Ownership Register - T-rankWe have reviewed the literature to check on new developments within the area of Weighted Voting Games. There are two recent developments that we want to highlight and review, and also compare the T-ra... 121
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 21/09/2026Ian Gorst, Jersey’s finance minister: “I don’t intend to make our [beneficial ownership] register public, and I’ve been clear to the UK about that” www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...theguardian.com‘It’s unrecognisable’: How being a tax haven has changed JerseyWhile global billionaires and multinational companies have been lured to its shores, many islanders feel left behind and priced out, with food bank use increasing 021
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughThe Ferret @theferret.scot · 20/09/2026🔴 NEW: Rules were tightened after Scottish Limited Partnerships were exploited for financial crime. But Moscow firms and a man accused of facilitating child sex abuse are still selling them for your “financial privacy”. Our latest: www.theferret.scot/p/a36c9a0d-fcd4-… 01814
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughReuters @reuters.com · 19/09/2026Gemini hacked three companies in first known breakout by Google's AI reut.rs/4Alduvvreut.rsGemini hacked three companies in first known breakout by Google's AIGoogle's Gemini model accessed the internet and hacked other companies during a test of its cybersecurity capabilities, the first known example of the company's AI systems autonomously committing such an act. 136643
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 18/09/202622 European countries - newly including Czechia, Denmark and Slovenia - now make their beneficial ownership information searchable via the EU's Beneficial Ownership Registers Interconnection System (BORIS) e-justice.europa.eu/topics/regis... #beneficialownership #UBO #AML #6AMLD 021
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Overseas Territories issue communique pushing back on UK's demands for them to open up beneficial ownership registers, adding that the “same treatment should be applied to the Crown Dependencies”, a reference to Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man www.caymancompass.com/2026/09/16/o...caymancompass.comOverseas Territories call for UK backing on financial servicesBritain's overseas territories are calling on the UK to take a firmer public stance in support of their financial services industries. 021
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 18/09/2026"Nigeria should work towards harmonising and centralising beneficial ownership information within a coordinated national framework" - Registrar-General of the Corporate Affairs Commission dailytrust.com/cac-mulls-si... The CAC can use the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard to help achieve this goaldailytrust.comCAC mulls single database for beneficial ownership registerThe Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has called for the harmonisation and centralisation of Nigeria’s beneficial ownership information to strengthen... 021
Reposted by Stephen Abbott PughStephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Standardised open data on the 186,000+ subsidiaries owned/controlled by the world’s 500 largest corporate groups - now published in Beneficial Ownership Data Standard format stephenabbottpugh.medium.com/ownership-da... #openstandards #opendata #interoperability #GODIN @oecdstatistics.bsky.socialstephenabbottpugh.medium.comOwnership data on the world’s largest corporate groups in Beneficial Ownership Data Standard formatOwnership data on the world’s 500 largest corporate groups - now published in Beneficial Ownership Data Standard format Data on how 186,000+ companies are owned or controlled by the world’s … 042
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 17/09/2026"We are providing UPRNs and INSPIRE IDs through a series of lookup tables, beginning with our Price Paid dataset. Later this financial year, we will be adding similar lookup tables to our UK Companies data and Overseas Companies data" - UK Land Registry todaysconveyancer.co.uk/hmlr-adds-pr...todaysconveyancer.co.ukHMLR adds property identifiers to price paid data | Today's ConveyancerHMLR is to include unique property reference numbers (UPRNs) and INSPIRE IDs as part of its price paid data from the end of August. 121
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 17/09/2026488 of the world's 500 largest corporate groups highlighted in this dataset have a Legal Entity Identifier. That means you can search for them on OpenCheck to see any risk signals connected to them and use the Subsidiaries tab to explore all the companies they own opencheck.worldopencheck.worldOpenCheck — LEI-anchored due diligenceOpen-source customer due diligence risk checks for any legal entity. Powered by GLEIF, OpenSanctions, national company registries and the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard. 011
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 16/09/2026@mattcollin.bsky.social @jeannebomare.bsky.social @anticorruption.bsky.social @taxobservatory.bsky.social 031
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 16/09/2026Standardised open data on the 186,000+ subsidiaries owned/controlled by the world’s 500 largest corporate groups - now published in Beneficial Ownership Data Standard format stephenabbottpugh.medium.com/ownership-da... #openstandards #opendata #interoperability #GODIN @oecdstatistics.bsky.socialstephenabbottpugh.medium.comOwnership data on the world’s largest corporate groups in Beneficial Ownership Data Standard formatOwnership data on the world’s 500 largest corporate groups - now published in Beneficial Ownership Data Standard format Data on how 186,000+ companies are owned or controlled by the world’s … 042
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 16/09/2026New feature on OpenCheck: Watchlist - spot when a company’s record change, without watching the registers stephenabbottpugh.medium.com/watchlist-sp... Powered by delta files from GLEIF and @opensanctions.org #LEI #opendata #openstandards #opensource #sanctions #beneficialownership #UBO #AML #CDDstephenabbottpugh.medium.comWatchlist: spot when a company’s record change, without watching the registersMost beneficial ownership and corporate ownership data is published as a snapshot. You download a file or query an API and you get the… 043
Stephen Abbott Pugh @stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social · 15/09/2026UK government pledges to recruit five hundred new officers in a £500 million crackdown on money laundering, as part of the government's Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy www.gov.uk/government/n...gov.ukHundreds of new officers to hunt down dirty money networksFive hundred new officers to be recruited in a £500 million crackdown on money laundering, as part of the government's Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Strategy. 042