A new investigation from the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, or OCCRP, has revealed details of two China-born fraudsters who tried to turn a radiation-soaked Pacific atoll into a future metropolis. Photo: Hilary Hosia
The investigation reports the duo paid more than $1 million to UN diplomats to gain access to its headquarters, before embarking on a controversial plan to set up an autonomous zone in the Pacific Ocean.
Cary Yan and Gina Zhou were sentenced by a US court earlier this year over a plot to bribe Marshall Islands politicians to create an autonomous zone 200 kilometres across open water from Kwajalein Atoll, where the U.S. Army has a military facility.
OCCRP reporters found the plan was the final step in a global grifting odyssey by the pair, who's multimillion dollar schemes included a miracle water cure and cryptocurrencies.
RNZ Pacific Editor Koroi Hawkins spoke with the lead Pacific editor at the OCCRP, Aubrey Belford.
