London, United Kingdom — August 5th, 2025
Cross Border Investigative Alliance (a.k.a. CBIA), a leading advocate for financial transparency and accountability, is calling on the UK Government to take immediate action against alleged financial wrongdoer Georgy Bedzhamov and reform critical loopholes in UK asset-freezing regulations.
Georgy Bedzhamov, once a prominent Russian banker, is accused of embezzling over $2 billion from Vneshprombank, leaving thousands of innocent depositors devastated and fueling distrust in global financial systems. Despite ongoing international scrutiny and UK asset freeze orders, legal loopholes have allowed sanctioned individuals to retain access to substantial wealth within the United Kingdom.
Failure to act not only undermines sanctions but enables suspected financial crimes to go unpunished on UK soil. Our financial system should not be a safe haven for those seeking to shelter assets away from justice. It is time for the UK to demonstrate true global leadership by ensuring that asset-freezing mechanisms are robust, transparent, and immune to exploitation.
Cross Border Investigative Alliance officially supports the public petition demanding that:
- The UK Government immediately sanctions Georgy Bedzhamov and enforces complete asset freezes.
- The government urgently reforms the legislative framework, closing loopholes that let sanctioned individuals retain wealth and influence.
- Authorities maintain a transparent, accountable process for asset tracing and freezing in line with international best practices.
Call to Action:
Cross Border Investigative Alliance urges members of the public, policymakers, NGOs, and financial institutions to sign and support the petition. It is imperative to restore faith in the UK’s commitment to combatting corruption, enforcing sanctions, and upholding the rule of law.
For media inquiries, interviews, or further comment, please contact:
secure@cbiawatch.com
About CBIA:
Advancing Global Financial Integrity
The Cross-Border Investigative Alliance (CBIA) was established in 2024 by a specialized team of experienced journalists, financial researchers, and legal experts united by a common purpose: to investigate and expose complex financial crimes that transcend national boundaries.
Our Mission
At CBIA, we delve deep into carefully selected cases of significant financial fraud, corruption, and illicit money flows that often escape mainstream scrutiny. By focusing on no more than three investigations at any given time, we ensure each case receives the rigorous attention and resources it deserves.
Our work aims to:
Expose complex financial crimes that impact multiple jurisdictions
Hold powerful actors accountable through meticulous investigative journalism
Improve financial transparency across borders
Advocate for policy reforms that close loopholes enabling cross-border financial crime
Provide a counter-balance to the culture of impunity that often surrounds financial wrongdoing
Our Approach
While many organizations spread their resources across numerous cases, CBIA takes a different path. Our selective approach allows us to:
Conduct exhaustive investigations that may take months or years to complete
Build comprehensive evidence portfolios that withstand intense scrutiny
Follow complex money trails across multiple jurisdictions
Develop deep expertise in specific cases that others lack the resources to pursue
Craft compelling narratives that make complex financial crimes understandable to broader audiences
Our Team
CBIA brings together professionals with backgrounds in investigative journalism, financial forensics, legal analysis, and data science. Our diverse team combines decades of collective experience in uncovering financial malfeasance across Europe and beyond.
Our collaborators include former financial crime prosecutors, data journalists, forensic accountants, and researchers specialized in offshore structures, money laundering techniques, and cross-border asset tracing.
Independence and Funding
CBIA operates as an independent non-profit organization committed to journalistic integrity and factual reporting. Our work is supported through a combination of foundation grants, institutional support, and public donations. We maintain complete editorial independence and adhere to the highest ethical standards in our work.
Global Reach
While headquartered in Europe, CBIA's investigations span the globe, focusing particularly on cases where individuals and entities exploit jurisdictional differences to hide assets, evade justice, or perpetrate financial fraud. We particularly focus on cases with connections to the European Union, but our investigations follow the evidence wherever it leads.
Impact and Accountability
We measure our success not by the number of stories published, but by the concrete impact our investigations achieve. This might include:
Policy and legislative reforms
Asset recovery for fraud victims
Legal proceedings against perpetrators
Increased public awareness of complex financial crimes
Institutional changes in financial oversight mechanisms
Connect With Us
Follow our investigations at CBIA.watch
For general or confidential inquiries: secure@cbia.watch
"Financial integrity knows no borders. Neither do our investigations."
End of Release