Paul Radu

Paul Radu is Co-Founder and Head of Innovation at OCCRP. He founded the organization in 2007 with Drew Sullivan. He leads OCCRP’s major investigative projects, scopes regional expansion, and develops new strategies and technology to expose organized crime and corruption across borders.

Paul initiated and led the award-winning Russian, Azerbaijani, and Troika Laundromat investigations, and coined the term “laundromat” to define large-scale, all-purpose financial fraud vehicles that are used to launder billions of dollars. He is a co-creator of Investigative Dashboard — a research desk that sifts through datasets to help journalists trace people, companies, and assets — and the Visual Investigative Scenarios software, a tool that lets reporters sketch out the people, institutions, and connections in criminal networks so people can easily follow complex investigations. He is also a co-founder of RISE Project, a platform for investigative reporters in Romania.

Paul is an Ashoka Global Fellow and has held several other fellowships, including the Milena Jesenska Press Fellowship, the Rosalyn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism, the Knight International Journalism Fellowship with the International Center for Journalists as well as a 2009-2010 Stanford Knight Journalism Fellowship. He is a board member of the Global Investigative Journalism Network, a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a member of the jury for the global Sigma Data Journalism Awards, and a member of the Allard Prize advisory board.