Frederik Obermaier

A gripping, real-life thriller following the authors' attempt to uncover the truth about one of the world's most wanted men. Karl Lee, alias Li Fangwei, plays a key role in the secret struggle between the world powers, bypassing Western sanctions to supply dictators with the weapons they need to wipe out their neighboring countries--or even to trigger a third world war. For almost two decades, intelligence agencies have been hunting for Karl Lee. The FBI has put a $5 million dollar bounty on his head, but nobody has been able to catch him. Now, four award-winning investigative journalists set out to find him. Following the routes of his deliveries and his money, the authors track down Karl Lee's businesses in China and uncover his network of shell companies. During their investigation, they get embroiled deeper and deeper in the shady world of the Chinese phantom, and realize that Karl Lee is just a pawn in a much bigger game of modern warfare and international espionage.

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalists who uncovered the Panama Papers, a gripping, real-life thriller following the authors’ attempt to uncover the truth about one of the world’s most wanted men. Karl Lee, alias Li Fangwei, plays a key role in the secret struggle between the world powers, bypassing Western sanctions to supply dictators with the weapons they need to wipe out their neighbouring countries — or even to trigger a third world war. For almost two decades, intelligence agencies have been hunting for Karl Lee. The FBI has put a $5 million bounty on his head, but nobody has been able to catch him. Now, four award-winning investigative journalists set out to find him. Following the routes of his deliveries and his money, the authors track down Karl Lee’s businesses in China and uncover his network of shell companies. During their investigation, they get embroiled deeper and deeper in the shady world of the Chinese phantom, and realise that Karl Lee is just a pawn in a much bigger game of modern warfare and international espionage.

Pulitzer-palkitut toimittajat sukeltavat asekaupan ja vakoilun syövereihin mukaansatempaavassa tietokirjassa. Kansainväliset turvallisuuspalvelut ovat vuosia jahdanneet maailman vaarallisimpana pidettyä asekauppiasta Karl Leetä. FBI on luvannut diktaattoreita varustavasta Leestä miljoonien dollarien palkkion. Silti häntä ei ole saatu kiinni. Panaman papereista kirjoittaneet tekijät ryhtyvät jäljittämään Leetä, josta ei ole kuin yksi epätarkka valokuva. Lopulta hänen peiteyhtiöidensä verkosto paljastuu rahavirtoja seuraamalla. Käy ilmi, että Kiinan ja muiden asiakkaiden suojelema Lee on vain pelinappula suurvaltojen monimutkaisessa ja vahingollisessa pelissä.

From the winners of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting 11.5 million documents sent through encrypted channels. The secret records of 214,000 offshore companies. The largest data leak in history. In early 2015, an anonymous whistle-blower led investigative journalists Bastian Obermayer and Frederik Obermaier into the shadow economy where the super-rich hide billions of dollars in complex financial networks. Thus began the ground-breaking investigation that saw an international team of 400 journalists work in secret for a year to uncover cases involving heads of state, politicians, businessmen, big banks, the mafia, diamond miners, art dealers and celebrities. A real-life thriller, The Panama Papers is the gripping account of how the story of the century was exposed to the world.