will neal
@willneal.bsky.social
writer, investigative journalist | 2025 Livingston Award finalist, Amnesty Media Award shortlistee | 2024 John Schofield Trust fellow | contact via willneal.org/
Pleasure working on this for PunchUp and the Daily Beast in partnership with @scottstedman.bsky.social and Matt Bernardini for The Newsground. www.thedailybeast.com/eric-and-don...
Shady Russian Network Behind Trump Vanity Project Exposed
The president’s sons are trumpeting a new Trump Tower—but not the Moscow oligarch behind one of the companies they named in the deal.
thedailybeast.com
Take it from me — JD Vance really, really doesn’t want you to read this story. www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vance-eye...
JD Vance Eyes Up $9M Mansion Owned by Data Center Tycoon
Vance is looking to rent the luxury property from a businessman making bank on a Trump administration policy push spearheaded by the vice president himself.
thedailybeast.com
EXCL w/PunchUp and Migrant Insider: DHS is planning a deportation system embedded inside Panama to turn back US-bound migrants before they ever reach the border. Immigration attorneys are calling it "the master plan for global implementation." thepunchup.substack.com/p/trumps-exp...
Trump’s Explosive Secret Plan to Stop Migrants Setting Foot on American Soil
EXCLUSIVE: Documents obtained by PunchUp and Migrant Insider reveal a DHS-built deportation system embedded in Panama—and a tiny window before automatic removal.
thepunchup.substack.com
EXCL: A prominent GOP attorney tied to Truth Social and the RNC has been hit with a $120M suit alleging fraud, conspiracy and extortion—stemming from his work for agents of the Kurdistan Regional Government who tried to buy surveillance spyware in the US. www.thedailybeast.com/trump-lawyer...
Trump Lawyer Sued for $120M Over Shady Spying Drama
Ted Kittila worked for Truth Social while acting for a foreign regime that tried to buy sinister spyware in the U.S.
thedailybeast.com
Couple of Daily Beast exclusives out in the past few days from the ever-joyful world of MAGA public contracting. 1/4
This morning, the UK sanctioned Georgia’s largest broadcaster, Imedi TV. No media organization has done more to amplify the regime’s anti-Western propaganda amid the war on Ukraine, or to rationalize Georgia’s descent into violent authoritarianism. 1/9
Federal law enforcement agents shot and killed a man in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 according to local police officials. DHS told Fox News that the man was “armed with a gun”. A video of the shooting appears to show that a gun was taken from the man before the first shot was fired. x.com/BillMelugin_...
A letter to the master of Trinity Hall, in response to her email to alumni regarding the Guardian's reporting this week: www.theguardian.com/education/20...
When they kick you out of Georgia and you make it 9,000 miles to Argentina before the universe starts mocking you…
EXCLUSIVE: A top attorney behind MAGA’s push to see Hunter Biden jailed for violating foreign influence laws was at the same time working for an abusive foreign regime that tried to buy sinister surveillance software in the U.S. Latest for @thedailybeast www.thedailybeast.com/magas-hunter...
MAGA’s Hunter Biden Ukraine Bulldog Now Working for Foreign Spies
GOP lawyer Ted Kittila helped push claims of foreign influence peddling against Hunter Biden even as he worked for an abusive foreign regime.
thedailybeast.com
When journalist @willneal.bsky.social was barred from #Georgia, his life was turned upside down. But for citizens, the country’s slide into violent authoritarianism has left them in a far more dangerous position. Read his account in our latest magazine issue ⬇️ journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
It’s been more than four months since I was expelled from Georgia with no word on a hearing date for my appeal. Here’s my latest for Index on Censorship about the ban, and what it says more broadly about the dire situation the country now finds itself in. papyrus.exacteditions.com/issues/14183...
papyrus.exacteditions.com
Spoke with Daniel Boffey for his @theguardian.com piece today on Hunnewell Partners. Good to see the issue getting more attention. Some links to my prior reporting on the group below. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...
Owner of Georgian broadcaster called country’s ‘propaganda megaphone’ is based in London
Imedi TV owner denies criticism by EU disinformation monitor and says it is editorially independent
theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s... Article doesn't have much that's new for people following #Georgia & reading @willneal.bsky.social coverage of Imedi and Hunnewell but at least brings the malfeasance to an even wider audience.
Owner of Georgian broadcaster called country’s ‘propaganda megaphone’ is based in London
Imedi TV owner denies criticism by EU disinformation monitor and says it is editorially independent
theguardian.com
Pleased that our co-founder @nealysart.bsky.social contributed to this deep dive by @theobserveruk.bsky.social on #SpaceX investment fraud from @willneal.bsky.social Scammers are leveraging AI & sophisticated tactics to defraud investors globally #osint #investigations #investment #fraud #spaceX
Elon Musk’s space unicorn has a scam problem | The Observer
Cybercriminals are stealing the identities of investment firms to con millions out of would-be SpaceX investors
observer.co.uk
🚨NEW: Amid Musk’s turn to Dark MAGA, the rush for SpaceX shares has seen fraudsters mercilessly targeting investors with no means of buying into the firm’s success. My debut @theobserveruk.bsky.social, on how one group used AI to dupe victims out of millions.👇 observer.co.uk/news/busines...
Elon Musk’s space unicorn has a scam problem | The Observer
Cybercriminals are stealing the identities of investment firms to con millions out of would-be SpaceX investors
observer.co.uk
the entire section is worth reading. @blairmcdougall.com "The complaint of the democracy activists I used to work with is that all of this brutality is happening while the regime’s money is washed through business associates in London." Hello @willneal.bsky.social ! No mincing of words there.
Mamuka Mdinaradze, a key architect of Georgia's authoritarian shift, has just been appointed head of the state security service. Last May, @willneal.bsky.social reported on the government unit funded by Western countries, before being used against them. newlinesmag.com/reportage/na...
NATO Helped Georgia Counter Russian Trolls. Then the Strategy Backfired
As a previously successful communications initiative falls into disarray, the Black Sea country’s drift away from the West seems inexorable
newlinesmag.com
A gripping exposé by @willneal.bsky.social unravels the billion-dollar legal intrigue linking oligarchs, offshore financiers, and sanctioned assets — all playing out in UK courts. A must-read for anyone curious about lawfare, kleptocracy, and shadow geopolitics
will neal@willneal.bsky.social · last yr.🚨NEW: Latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social with Josimar's Paul Brown, on how an Israeli tycoon, a shady Miami investment group, and a UK firm controlled by enablers of the Georgian regime became embroiled in a £1bn legal spat between powerful Russian business interests. 1/13 👉 shorturl.at/8hHYG
🚨NEW: Latest for @bylinetimes.bsky.social with Josimar's Paul Brown, on how an Israeli tycoon, a shady Miami investment group, and a UK firm controlled by enablers of the Georgian regime became embroiled in a £1bn legal spat between powerful Russian business interests. 1/13 👉 shorturl.at/8hHYG
Mystery at the Heart of £1 Billion UK Legal Offensive Against Top Putin Ally
A sanctioned former Kremlin politician was sued for shares in his multi-billion-dollar fertiliser company. But why did a trio of companies with links to Russian interests in football get involved?
shorturl.at
New report from the folks at Civic Idea on how Iranian companies appear to be using Georgian markets to circumvent international sanctions → civicidea.ge/en/georgian-...
Georgian Dream’s anti-western policy: How Iranian companies are using Georgia to bypass sanctions - Civic Idea
HOW IRANIAN COMPANIES ARE USING GEORGIA TO BYPASS SANCTIONS? Civic IDEA’s latest investigation sheds light on a little-known but deeply troubling dimension of Iran-Georgia relations. The report exposes how Iranian businessmen are using Georgia as a strategic transit point to evade international sanctions and channel funds back to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Our findings reveal […]
civicidea.ge
In the past, #Georgia was open to international press. In the last ten months, this, like so much else, has gone into full reverse. Here is the story. @clementgirardot.bsky.social @willneal.bsky.social cpj.org/2025/07/geor...
Georgia increasingly blocks entry to Western journalists amid authoritarian turn - Committee to Protect Journalists
When British investigative journalist Will Neal was turned back at Georgia’s border with Armenia in May, he became the fifth of at least six European journalists in recent months to be denied entry in...
cpj.org
🇬🇪A country once seen as the democratic bright spot of the post-Soviet space is now undergoing the fastest authoritarian regression in modern European history. 🧵Here’s a thread to keep you updated on what’s happening - and why it matters. 1/23
When the Epstein files enter the chat…you know the bromance may actually be over…
Oh nothing, just the world’s most divorced man casually finding out why they call it regretamine.
#Georgia 🇬🇪 British journalist Will Neal investigated Georgian power circles and was expelled from the country following a smear campaign against him by pro-government politicians. @rsf.org tells his story.
Georgia: British journalist subjected to smear campaign, then expelled from country - IFEX
"Will Neal’s case marks a new stage in the repression of foreign journalists in Georgia and clearly illustrates the authorities’ rejection of any independent journalistic scrutiny of power…
buff.ly
Freelance British Journalist @willneal.bsky.social Denied Entry to Georgia Find out more 👉 go.coe.int/nYCUw Alert submitted by @globalfreemedia.bsky.social & JFJ #EuropeForFreeMedia Photo: social media
🇬🇪 Georgia has shown a growing pattern of denying entry to Western journalists, including those critical of the Russian government. The latest case involves British journalist @willneal.bsky.social, who was barred from entering the country without explanation after reporting on Russian links 1/3
🇬🇪🇬🇧A must-read investigation by @willneal.bsky.social in Byline Times: How Hunnewell Partners, a UK firm tied to Georgian oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili, allegedly facilitated Kremlin-linked financial schemes through London’s elite circles. bylinetimes.com/2025/03/31/m...
Moscow’s Ties to the Georgian Regime Ran Through Kensington and Chelsea
Leaked documents reveal how UK firm Hunnewell Partners, controlled by alleged enablers of Georgia’s ruling oligarch, facilitated a top Putin crony’s attempts to exploit the collapse of a more than $1....
bylinetimes.com
