The large number of purchases in such a short period had triggered a federal reporting requirement intended to alert the government to potential firearms trafficking, he wrote, and he wanted to know “if we should stop any future sales” to the person.

The sales continued. Over the next two months, the same man, Jerome Horton, bought an additional 11 guns at various stores operated by the company, a Wisconsin-based retail chain named Fleet Farm. Several of the guns were subsequently found at crime scenes or in the possession of convicted criminals, court documents show. One of them was recovered in connection with a shooting that injured 14 and killed one woman, Marquisha Wiley.

Similar cases have occurred countless times across the United States, where gun laws allow dealers to sell guns in bulk to traffickers with few consequences. The details of those sales and internal discussions about them are usually shrouded in mystery.

But newly released documents reviewed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shed light on firearm industry practices that experts say contribute to gun trafficking in the United States and abroad.

Earlier this year, Fleet Farm settled the case, paying the state $1 million and agreeing to make improvements to its firearms sales procedures. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to release to the public internal documents revealed during the suit, as well as depositions of its employees and other materials that, taken together, provide a rare look into the inner workings of a large gun retailer. The company denies any wrongdoing. It did not respond to several requests for comment.

The documents have been archived at University of California San Francisco and integrated into a larger collection of documents from litigation related to tobacco, opioids and other industries that impact public health.

The sale of multiple firearms to a single person is not, in and of itself, a sign of wrongdoing by the seller or buyer. There are no federal limits on the number of guns any one adult can buy as long as the buyer does not belong to certain classes of people, such as convicted criminals, who are banned from possessing firearms altogether.

But there are some behaviors that, taken together, are considered “red flags” for straw purchasing — buying a gun on behalf of someone else. Traffickers and other criminals often employ “straw purchasers” with clean records to obtain guns for them. The practice is illegal. The ATF tells dealers to be on the lookout for, among other things, people who purchase several guns over a short period, buy multiples of the same model or plunk down large amounts of cash for the weapons.

It is also illegal to knowingly sell a gun to a straw purchaser. Sellers who have reasonable cause to believe that a sale violates the law are required to decline it.

https://www.icij.org/news/2025/11/ar-15-ammunition-at-a-crime-scene-good-odds-this-us-army-plant-made-it/

United States AR-15 ammunition at a crime scene? Good odds this US Army plant made it. Nov 06, 2025

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/04/arizona-gun-shop-owner-is-first-to-face-terrorism-related-charges-after-allegedly-selling-high-caliber-weapons-bound-for-mexican-cartels/

Accountability Arizona gun shop owner faces terrorism-related charges for allegedly selling high-caliber weapons bound for Mexican cartels Apr 30, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/02/nearly-half-of-powerful-50-caliber-ammo-seized-by-mexican-government-came-from-us-army-plant-defense-minister-says/

IMPACT Nearly half of powerful .50-caliber ammo seized by Mexican government came from US Army plant, defense minister says Feb 10, 2026

Recommended reading United States AR-15 ammunition at a crime scene? Good odds this US Army plant made it. Nov 06, 2025 Accountability Arizona gun shop owner faces terrorism-related charges for allegedly selling high-caliber weapons bound for Mexican cartels Apr 30, 2026 IMPACT Nearly half of powerful .50-caliber ammo seized by Mexican government came from US Army plant, defense minister says Feb 10, 2026

The event featured ICIJ reporter and Asia partner coordinator Scilla Alecci and Bradley C. Parks, executive director of AidData at William & Mary. ICIJ digital editor Carmen Molina Acosta led the discussion.

For your invitation to future events, please subscribe to ICIJ’s newsletter or consider making a donation to support our work.

One of them was Gunvor Group, a company co-founded by a Swedish businessman and a Russian oligarch close to the Kremlin. In 2014, a U.S. Treasury Department report said that Putin himself had investments in the energy trading firm and may have had access to its funds.  Since then, Gunvor’s co-founders have exited, and the company, now valued at about $5 billion, has over the last decade sought to shake its image as a Putin investment tool.

Gunvor has publicly condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine, and in 2023 corporate filings stated that it had “largely wound-down the trade of Russian oil and products.”

Now, confidential records reviewed by Swedish daily Göteborgs-Posten and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists show how, despite its public pledges, the trader, using some of its subsidiaries, continued doing business with sanctioned Russian oil and gas producers.

The records come from the archives of the U.K. operations of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank by asset size and one of Gunvor’s lenders.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/china-banking-icbc-oligarchs-sanctions-london/

OVERVIEW Chinese banking giant serves firms linked to oligarchs and autocrats to push Beijing’s agenda Sep 14, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/china-capital-stories-reveal-how-icbc-advanced-chinas-political-goals-across-four-continents/

PARTNER STORIES China Capital stories reveal how ICBC advanced China’s political goals across four continents Sep 23, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/zhang-hongli-icbc-executive-corruption-employee-misconduct/

CORRUPTION ICBC promoted corrupt executive, ignored employee misconduct as it pursued global expansion Sep 14, 2026

Recommended reading OVERVIEW Chinese banking giant serves firms linked to oligarchs and autocrats to push Beijing’s agenda Sep 14, 2026 PARTNER STORIES China Capital stories reveal how ICBC advanced China’s political goals across four continents Sep 23, 2026 CORRUPTION ICBC promoted corrupt executive, ignored employee misconduct as it pursued global expansion Sep 14, 2026

The investigation is based on more than 4.8 million confidential records from two of ICBC’s U.K. units. The records provide rare insight into one of China’s most important financial arms, showing how the government’s influence and political priorities often outweigh ordinary banking protocols.

This is the first time that an international team of reporters has examined the inner workings and lending practices of ICBC– the world’s largest bank by asset size. Like many of its state-owned peers, ICBC is notoriously secretive.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/icbc-china-capital-video/

VIDEO WATCH: How the world’s biggest bank advances Beijing’s interests Sep 14, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/china-banking-icbc-oligarchs-sanctions-london/

OVERVIEW Chinese banking giant serves firms linked to oligarchs and autocrats to push Beijing’s agenda Sep 14, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/huawei-icbc-banking-us-court-beijing-london/

HUAWEI Chinese bank helped Huawei spirit $1B out of London days after US indictment of the tech giant Sep 14, 2026

Recommended reading VIDEO WATCH: How the world’s biggest bank advances Beijing’s interests Sep 14, 2026 OVERVIEW Chinese banking giant serves firms linked to oligarchs and autocrats to push Beijing’s agenda Sep 14, 2026 HUAWEI Chinese bank helped Huawei spirit $1B out of London days after US indictment of the tech giant Sep 14, 2026

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) headquarters in Beijing, China, on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023. Image: Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Chinese bank also financed key energy projects in Europe. In the U.K., The Times found that ICBC issued nearly $1.7 billion in loans and borrowing options to U.K. water and energy infrastructure companies, including some that were “highly leveraged, with private owners borrowing heavily against relatively guaranteed incomes to maximise dividends.”

This model could leave water companies at risk should disputes arise over the debts, The Times reported. According to one internal memo, ICBC London’s ability to participate in wind farms financing was “strategically important in order to remain relevant in the UK renewables sector”.

The revelations prompted a debate in the British parliament, with some members of the House of Lords raising concerns about Chinese ownership of water utilities and key local infrastructure.

ICBC also showed an interest in financing Sweden’s top oil producer, Preem, the Göteborgs-Posten found. Internal records show how the bank offered loans to the company, a long-term client, in order to benefit Chinese oil companies and obtain access to Preem’s technology. In an internal document examined by ICIJ’s Swedish reporting partner, a banker noted that the deal allowed ICBC to gain insight into technology used for refining waste oil from cooking and forest biomass into premium oil products — a process of particular interest to China.

Serving Russia’s allies

China Capital also exposed how ICBC used its London operations as a financing hub for companies linked to sanctioned Russian and Belarusian business owners even after Western countries imposed financial sanctions to dent Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.

ICIJ and the Belarusian Investigative Center reported how ICBC London’s clients included a U.K. subsidiary of Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology, a Chinese construction company. Zoomlion used the subsidiary to partner with Belarusian state-owned company MAZ and build an industrial park near Minsk. The partnership continued even after the European Union and its allies sanctioned MAZ over its ties to Alexander Lukashenko’s regime.

MAZ left the joint venture in 2023, after the U.S. sanctioned the Belarusian firm, but devised a plan to continue supplying heavy vehicles to Zoomlion through an unsanctioned party, according to records obtained by the Belarusian Investigative Center.

Reddy, who had been held secretly after being detained on Saturday, flew out of the country today following his release.

Reddy arrived in Djibouti on Sept. 17 and went silent around 1 p.m. local time on Sept. 19, along with his local assistant, Mohamed Willo Ismael (“Kooki Mahmoud”).

Ismael is understood to be free as well.

ICIJ raised the alarm within hours of the two men’s disappearance from the Escale International Hotel in Djibouti City, when messages to the pair went unanswered.

On Sept. 21, ICIJ confirmed unofficially through diplomatic and other channels that Reddy was in custody, understood to be held for failing to obtain proper media accreditation.

The South African, British and U.S. governments all assisted in reaching out to Djiboutian authorities for information.

Djibouti authorities did not publicly confirm his whereabouts or provide access to Reddy until today.

The many calls for press freedom and for the men’s swift release are an example of the solidarity that matters when a journalist’s safety is put at risk.

—ICIJ director Gerard Ryle

Reddy’s family expressed its relief at his and Ismael’s release but dismay over his treatment and the secrecy surrounding it.

They thanked helpers on the ground, the South African and UK governments, press freedom organizations, ICIJ and the many journalists who had assisted.

They also thanked Reddy’s legal team for its international efforts.

“Waiting for news of a loved one whose whereabouts and wellbeing are unknown is unimaginably painful,” the Reddy family statement said.

“We are profoundly grateful that, for our family, this story has had a happy ending.”

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ICIJ echoed the Reddy family in expressing its gratitude to all whose vocal response helped both to discover that Reddy had been held secretly in custody and to secure his freedom.

“The many calls for press freedom and for the men’s swift release are an example of the solidarity that matters when a journalist’s safety is put at risk,” ICIJ director Gerard Ryle said.

Ryle thanked the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Djibouti for their assistance in securing the release of Reddy.

He added his thanks to South African diplomat Zane Dangor, to the U.K. Embassy in Washington DC and to its consular services in London.

The Texas-based Dynamic Frontier Holdings purchased Teghut, one of Armenia’s largest copper mines, this summer. Dynamic Frontier’s manager is Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-American businessman who was one of three dozen private donors to President Donald Trump’s $350 million White House ballroom project.

Russia’s state-owned VTB Bank was Teghut’s primary shareholder and creditor prior to the purchase. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned VTB Bank following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, describing it as a “critical artery” of the country’s financial system.

The sanctions prohibit U.S. companies and individuals from transacting with VTB Bank. But on Sept. 3, Dynamic Frontier said in a press statement that it had “received authorization from the U.S. Department of the Treasury” on June 1 to acquire all of Teghut’s shares and outstanding debt.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known as OFAC, can grant a license to individuals or companies to complete transactions that would otherwise be prohibited by sanctions. OFAC states on its website that it may grant a license to do business with sanctioned Russian entities when it is in the interest of the applicant and the U.S. government.

A spokesperson for Sokolov confirmed to ICIJ that OFAC granted a license to Dynamic Frontier to complete the acquisition of Teghut’s shares and debt. The spokesperson also said there was “no evidential basis” to draw any link between Sokolov’s donations and the approval of the license, and that any suggestion otherwise “would be incorrect and wholly misplaced.”

The Treasury Department did not answer questions about the license.

As far back as April, VTB’s chairman said that his bank was in “the final stages” of selling Teghut and Armenia’s Radio Azatutyun identified Sokolov as the mine’s likely buyer. In July, the buyer was reported to be a company founded by Sergei Virabyan, a former Armenian government official and banking executive. Virabyan refused to answer when asked whether Sokolov was the true owner of the mine, describing the information as a “commercial secret.”

In a statement, the spokesperson for Sokolov said Dynamic Frontier’s acquisition of Teghut “represents a long-term commitment to one of Armenia’s most strategically important mineral assets,” and that the company’s goal is to revitalize the mine and significantly increase its production. The transaction, the spokesperson said, “will help secure Armenia’s position and sovereignty in the critical minerals space.”

Sokolov was born in the Russian city of St. Petersburg in 1975 and immigrated to the United States at 21 years old, according to his personal website. In the late 2000s, he helped launch an investment fund that backed Russian real estate and hospitality projects.

Mesrop Manukyan, a member of Armenia’s National Assembly, told ICIJ that Sokolov’s position “create[s] legitimate questions about…the separation between private commercial interest and decisions involving public or government-backed funds.”

Update, 4:30 p.m. ET / 11:30 p.m. Djibouti: ICIJ has been informed that Reddy is believed to be in custody for failing to obtain media accreditation. It is understood Ismael is also being held in custody by Djiboutian authorities.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is gravely concerned for the safety of our colleague Micah Reddy, ICIJ’s Africa coordinator, and local journalist Mohamed Willo Ismael (“Kooki Mahmoud”).

Contact with the pair was lost in Djibouti City on Saturday, September 19, at approximately 1 p.m. local time, and neither has been in contact or reachable since.

Reddy was not reporting on Djiboutian affairs when he went missing. He was staying at the Escale International Hotel in Djibouti City.

ICIJ does not yet know the circumstances behind Reddy’s sudden loss of contact.

The Committee to Protect Journalists said Sunday it is “deeply concerned” by reports that the pair can no longer be reached, and has called on Djiboutian authorities to urgently establish their whereabouts and confirm their safety.

ICIJ echoes that statement without reservation.

We are calling on the government of Djibouti to:

Immediately clarify Reddy and Ismael’s whereabouts and confirm their well-being; Launch a prompt, transparent investigation into their disappearance; Keep their families, colleagues and employers fully and promptly informed.

Reddy is both a citizen of the U.K. and South Africa. ICIJ alerted both London and Pretoria shortly after the pair went missing.

Authorities in Djibouti have not responded so far to ICIJ requests for information.

Before joining ICIJ, Reddy was an investigative reporter at South Africa’s amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism, known for his reporting on governance, corruption and regional affairs across the continent.

Journalists must be able to travel without fear of disappearance or obstruction.

Simon Leviev, soon to turn 36, who inspired a 2022 Netflix documentary by that alias after achieving notoriety for conning at least six women out of an estimated 7 million pounds, wants to name his app Safe Love.

Leviev’s criminality first became widely known after reports by Natalie Hansen and Kristoffer Kumar and others from the Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang, assisted by ICIJ’s Israeli member Uri Blau.

The son of a rabbi, Simon Leviev wooed several Scandinavian women with glamorous trips, gifts and expensive meals, then shook them down by claiming to be in danger and needing cash to flee danger.

Each victim was used to fund the seduction of the next.

In 2019, Leviev was sentenced to jail in Israel for 15 months after being extradited from Greece and convicted of theft, fraud and forgery of documents. He served only five months.

Unconvinced by Leviev’s self-professed rehabilitation, The Online Dating and Discovery Association has written to Apple and Google calling on them to cancel the convicted fraudster’s planned app.

“In our view, a convicted fraudster having any involvement in our industry seriously undermines the work our sector is doing to tackle fraud,” ODDA chief Simon Newman told ICIJ in a statement.

“It can only have negative repercussions for platforms and users alike,” he said. “We believe it should not be allowed to happen, and that action is needed to prevent it.”

Newman called on Apple and Google to seriously consider the harmful impact that could occur if they were to host any dating app founded, operated or fronted by Leviev.

Huawei enacted “a far-reaching criminal scheme extending over twenty years,” according to Department of Justice prosecutor Taylor Stout. “Crime was an important business strategy.”

Nearly eight years after the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed its indictment against Huawei, the company is facing 12 felony charges, including that it conspired to steal technologies from U.S. competitors and business partners. The federal government also alleges that Huawei lied to its Western banking partners about doing business in Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. No individuals have been charged.

Huawei’s lawyers rejected the government’s characterization, with Brian Heberlig, one of at least a dozen attorneys working for the defense, arguing that the charges concerned “disconnected incidents.”

“It’s about competition, not conspiracy,” Heberlig said.

In December 2018, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver at the request of U.S. officials and charged with fraud. After a lengthy period of house arrest, Meng reached a deferred prosecution agreement with U.S. authorities in 2021 in which she admitted to lying to HSBC and other banks about a Huawei subsidiary’s business in Iran. That admission will likely be introduced during the trial.

As reported in China Capital, ICIJ’s recent investigation into Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Huawei had leaned on its close relations with the state-owned bank to insulate itself from the fallout of Meng’s arrest. After the Justice Department unveiled its indictment, the company’s bankers at ICBC’s London branch facilitated a transfer of $1.3 billion in “emergency cash” from London to a branch in China without informing compliance staff.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/china-banking-icbc-oligarchs-sanctions-london/

OVERVIEW Chinese banking giant serves firms linked to oligarchs and autocrats to push Beijing’s agenda Sep 14, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/huawei-icbc-banking-us-court-beijing-london/

HUAWEI Chinese bank helped Huawei spirit $1B out of London days after US indictment of the tech giant Sep 14, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/about-china-capital-investigation-icbc/

Asia-Pacific About the China Capital investigation Sep 14, 2026

Recommended reading OVERVIEW Chinese banking giant serves firms linked to oligarchs and autocrats to push Beijing’s agenda Sep 14, 2026 HUAWEI Chinese bank helped Huawei spirit $1B out of London days after US indictment of the tech giant Sep 14, 2026 Asia-Pacific About the China Capital investigation Sep 14, 2026

Senior conservative peer Lord Blencathra, also known as David Maclean, questioned the government in British Parliament’s House of Lords after The Times, an ICIJ partner, reported that ICBC issued nearly $1.7 billion in loans and borrowing options to water and energy infrastructure companies in the United Kingdom in the years leading up to July 2024.

ICIJ found that the London units of ICBC, whose majority shareholder is the Chinese state, served as a financing hub for companies linked to sanctioned oligarchs, autocrats publicly accused of corruption and China’s political establishment.

“There are deep concerns that this poses a financial security risk, especially since ICBC has continued to accept business from Russian and Belarusian clients,” Maclean told members of the House of Lords.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/china-banking-icbc-oligarchs-sanctions-london/

OVERVIEW Chinese banking giant serves firms linked to oligarchs and autocrats to push Beijing’s agenda Sep 14, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/faqs-icbc-china-capital-bank/

FAQs Frequently asked questions about the China Capital investigation Sep 14, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/china-capital/zhang-hongli-icbc-executive-corruption-employee-misconduct/

CORRUPTION ICBC promoted corrupt executive, ignored employee misconduct as it pursued global expansion Sep 14, 2026

Recommended reading OVERVIEW Chinese banking giant serves firms linked to oligarchs and autocrats to push Beijing’s agenda Sep 14, 2026 FAQs Frequently asked questions about the China Capital investigation Sep 14, 2026 CORRUPTION ICBC promoted corrupt executive, ignored employee misconduct as it pursued global expansion Sep 14, 2026