Stephen Abbott Pugh
@stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social
Beneficial ownership transparency, data and standardisation expert. Offering technical guidance and consultancy support https://www.beneficialownership.co.uk/
Talk to me about the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard https://standard.openownership.org/
Talk to me about the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard https://standard.openownership.org/
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Fact-checking and Media Literacy, so important to counter disinformation — or maybe not? www.whitehouse.gov/mediabias
Media Offenders
Uncover Media Bias & Hold Fake News Accountable. False claims debunked, serial offenders immortalized in the Hall of Fame, networks ranked on the Leaderboard of Repeat Lies. Stay informed, stay accura...
www.whitehouse.gov
November 29, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Fact-checking and Media Literacy, so important to counter disinformation — or maybe not? www.whitehouse.gov/mediabias
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Water reserves drying up in face of climate change.
Our latest article, out now:
share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...
🧵
1/6
Our latest article, out now:
share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...
🧵
1/6
Revealed: Europe’s water reserves drying up due to climate breakdown
Exclusive: UCL scientists find large swathes of southern Europe are drying up, with ‘far-reaching’ implications
share.google
November 29, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Water reserves drying up in face of climate change.
Our latest article, out now:
share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...
🧵
1/6
Our latest article, out now:
share.google/0eyMBdzbmWkA...
🧵
1/6
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
NEW: The New York Times got a State Dept. cable telling diplomats to destroy visas that had been approved and printed to give to Afghans. And diplomats are told to do scheduled interviews but not grant visas. US shuts all legal entry routes for Afghans. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
Trump Pauses All Asylum Applications and Halts Visas for Afghans
www.nytimes.com
November 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM
NEW: The New York Times got a State Dept. cable telling diplomats to destroy visas that had been approved and printed to give to Afghans. And diplomats are told to do scheduled interviews but not grant visas. US shuts all legal entry routes for Afghans. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/28/u...
The communiqué from the 2025 UK/Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council is out.
Seems like Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos have been given some kind of ultimatum to do more on beneficial ownership registers...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Seems like Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos have been given some kind of ultimatum to do more on beneficial ownership registers...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
November 28, 2025 at 7:17 PM
The communiqué from the 2025 UK/Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council is out.
Seems like Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos have been given some kind of ultimatum to do more on beneficial ownership registers...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Seems like Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos have been given some kind of ultimatum to do more on beneficial ownership registers...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
November 28, 2025 at 7:17 PM
The communiqué from the 2025 UK/Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council is out.
Seems like Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos have been given some kind of ultimatum to do more on beneficial ownership registers...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Seems like Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and Turks & Caicos have been given some kind of ultimatum to do more on beneficial ownership registers...
www.gov.uk/government/p...
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
✨ Come work with us ✨
The @ukanticorruptioncoalition.org is recruiting a interim Senior Coalition Manager to lead the coalition's work during a busy and exciting period for the anti-corruption movement.
Could that be you?
Find out more and apply below ⤵️
www.prospect-us.co.uk/job/193594-s...
The @ukanticorruptioncoalition.org is recruiting a interim Senior Coalition Manager to lead the coalition's work during a busy and exciting period for the anti-corruption movement.
Could that be you?
Find out more and apply below ⤵️
www.prospect-us.co.uk/job/193594-s...
Senior Coalition Manager (Interim) - Prospectus Recruitment Agency
Prospectus is excited to be working with the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition to recruit for an Interim Senior Coalition Manager. This is a 6 month contract with opportunities for the role to become perma...
www.prospect-us.co.uk
November 28, 2025 at 2:39 PM
✨ Come work with us ✨
The @ukanticorruptioncoalition.org is recruiting a interim Senior Coalition Manager to lead the coalition's work during a busy and exciting period for the anti-corruption movement.
Could that be you?
Find out more and apply below ⤵️
www.prospect-us.co.uk/job/193594-s...
The @ukanticorruptioncoalition.org is recruiting a interim Senior Coalition Manager to lead the coalition's work during a busy and exciting period for the anti-corruption movement.
Could that be you?
Find out more and apply below ⤵️
www.prospect-us.co.uk/job/193594-s...
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
The latest 2022 OECD CbCR statistics are out 🚀
🛠️ Our #CbCR Explorer app has been updated with the new data, offering a way to compare and analyse multinationals’ activities and tax payments across countries.
📊 Explore the app here: taxobservatory.shinyapps.io/CbCR_Explorer/
🛠️ Our #CbCR Explorer app has been updated with the new data, offering a way to compare and analyse multinationals’ activities and tax payments across countries.
📊 Explore the app here: taxobservatory.shinyapps.io/CbCR_Explorer/
November 28, 2025 at 2:18 PM
The latest 2022 OECD CbCR statistics are out 🚀
🛠️ Our #CbCR Explorer app has been updated with the new data, offering a way to compare and analyse multinationals’ activities and tax payments across countries.
📊 Explore the app here: taxobservatory.shinyapps.io/CbCR_Explorer/
🛠️ Our #CbCR Explorer app has been updated with the new data, offering a way to compare and analyse multinationals’ activities and tax payments across countries.
📊 Explore the app here: taxobservatory.shinyapps.io/CbCR_Explorer/
The Jersey Financial Services Commission is conducting a consultation on changes to its AML/CFT handbook which sets out guidance for standard and enhanced customer due diligence practices to identify complex structures, spot opacity and assess risk
www.jerseyfsc.org/industry/con...
www.jerseyfsc.org/industry/con...
November 28, 2025 at 4:57 PM
The Jersey Financial Services Commission is conducting a consultation on changes to its AML/CFT handbook which sets out guidance for standard and enhanced customer due diligence practices to identify complex structures, spot opacity and assess risk
www.jerseyfsc.org/industry/con...
www.jerseyfsc.org/industry/con...
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Rachel Reeves is billing the #Budget2025 as the long overdue tax rise on the rich — yet Spears Magazine, the glossy read “for ultra high net worths & their advisers”, is celebrating how little impact it’ll have.
🧵So what's spin and what's really in the Budget? 👇 1/13
🧵So what's spin and what's really in the Budget? 👇 1/13
November 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Rachel Reeves is billing the #Budget2025 as the long overdue tax rise on the rich — yet Spears Magazine, the glossy read “for ultra high net worths & their advisers”, is celebrating how little impact it’ll have.
🧵So what's spin and what's really in the Budget? 👇 1/13
🧵So what's spin and what's really in the Budget? 👇 1/13
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
❗ "Companies registered in UK Overseas Territories have been used in more than 273 large-scale corruption and money laundering cases... £250bn across 79 countries. The BVI featured in 92% of these cases. Almost £6bn of this money was used to purchase UK properties through shell companies."
📝 BLOG 📝
UK Overseas Territories committed to corporate transparency.
Seven years on, most have failed to deliver. On our latest blog we look at our new research reveals the scale of the problem and what needs to change.
Read more ⤵️
www.transparency.org.uk/news/seven-y...
UK Overseas Territories committed to corporate transparency.
Seven years on, most have failed to deliver. On our latest blog we look at our new research reveals the scale of the problem and what needs to change.
Read more ⤵️
www.transparency.org.uk/news/seven-y...
Seven years on the UK’s offshore centres are still failing on transparency
www.transparency.org.uk
November 28, 2025 at 12:48 PM
❗ "Companies registered in UK Overseas Territories have been used in more than 273 large-scale corruption and money laundering cases... £250bn across 79 countries. The BVI featured in 92% of these cases. Almost £6bn of this money was used to purchase UK properties through shell companies."
Switzerland is due to vote this Sunday on whether to introduce a wealth tax of 50% on inherited fortunes over 50 million Swiss francs ($62m USD) www.reuters.com/business/fin...
Swiss wealth tax proposal to test public appetite for redistribution
Switzerland will vote on a proposed wealth tax on Sunday that will be a litmus test of appetite for wealth redistribution in one of the world's richest countries.
www.reuters.com
November 28, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Switzerland is due to vote this Sunday on whether to introduce a wealth tax of 50% on inherited fortunes over 50 million Swiss francs ($62m USD) www.reuters.com/business/fin...
The Isle of Man Government has launched a public consultation to update the island’s corporate laws in line with international AML and CFT standards consult.gov.im/economic-dev...
Submissions are due by 8th January 2026.
#beneficialownership #UBO #AML #Moneyval
Submissions are due by 8th January 2026.
#beneficialownership #UBO #AML #Moneyval
November 28, 2025 at 11:18 AM
The Isle of Man Government has launched a public consultation to update the island’s corporate laws in line with international AML and CFT standards consult.gov.im/economic-dev...
Submissions are due by 8th January 2026.
#beneficialownership #UBO #AML #Moneyval
Submissions are due by 8th January 2026.
#beneficialownership #UBO #AML #Moneyval
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
DeepSeek-Math-V2 means we now have an open weights (Apache 2) model that can achieve gold medal performance on this year's International Mathematical Olympiad - previously proprietary models from OpenAI and Google DeepMind had achieved that
689GB from Hugging Face! simonwillison.net/2025/Nov/27/...
689GB from Hugging Face! simonwillison.net/2025/Nov/27/...
deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-Math-V2
New on Hugging Face, a specialist mathematical reasoning LLM from DeepSeek. This is their entry in the space previously dominated by proprietary models from OpenAI and Google DeepMind, both of …
simonwillison.net
November 27, 2025 at 4:03 PM
DeepSeek-Math-V2 means we now have an open weights (Apache 2) model that can achieve gold medal performance on this year's International Mathematical Olympiad - previously proprietary models from OpenAI and Google DeepMind had achieved that
689GB from Hugging Face! simonwillison.net/2025/Nov/27/...
689GB from Hugging Face! simonwillison.net/2025/Nov/27/...
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Companies disclose their real owners to participate in Chile’s #publicprocurement market as part of groundbreaking reform. Read our latest story open-contracting.org/2025/11/04/c... #BOT
Companies disclose their real owners to participate in Chile’s procurement market as part of groundbreaking reform - Open Contracting Partnership
All private companies participating in Chile’s public procurement market must now declare their real owners…
open-contracting.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Companies disclose their real owners to participate in Chile’s #publicprocurement market as part of groundbreaking reform. Read our latest story open-contracting.org/2025/11/04/c... #BOT
Escargone 🐌
Thieves have stolen €90,000 worth of fine French snails destined for some of the country’s most prestigious restaurants
Thieves take €90,000 of snails meant for Michelin-starred restaurants
French police are on the trail of ‘experienced’ criminals who stole a whole year’s worth of produce from Jean-Mathieu Dauvergne’s L’Escargot des Grands Crus
www.thetimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Escargone 🐌
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
A £33.7m London mansion owned by now sanctioned Iranian banker Ali Ansari revealed by @occrp.org to add to £73m+ UK asset portfolio reported previously by @privateeyenews.bsky.social www.occrp.org/en/news/sanc...
Sanctioned Iranian Banker Owns Multi-Million-Pound London Mansion
Land records reveal a 33.7 million pounds London mansion owned by sanctioned Iranian banker Ali Ansari, accused of aiding the IRGC.
www.occrp.org
November 5, 2025 at 1:43 PM
A £33.7m London mansion owned by now sanctioned Iranian banker Ali Ansari revealed by @occrp.org to add to £73m+ UK asset portfolio reported previously by @privateeyenews.bsky.social www.occrp.org/en/news/sanc...
UK accused of caving-in to British Virgin Islands over access to companies register, writes @patrickwintour.bsky.social for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
#beneficialownership #legitimateinterest
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
#beneficialownership #legitimateinterest
UK accused of caving-in to British Virgin Islands over access to companies register
Parliamentary group urges government to clamp down on overseas territories before flagship anti-corruption summit
www.theguardian.com
November 27, 2025 at 7:14 PM
UK accused of caving-in to British Virgin Islands over access to companies register, writes @patrickwintour.bsky.social for @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
#beneficialownership #legitimateinterest
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
#beneficialownership #legitimateinterest
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
We have found a number of procedural shortcomings in how @ec.europa.eu prepared legislative proposals that it considered urgent.
The proposals concerned:
☑️ Corporate sustainability (Omnibus I)
☑️ Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
☑️ Countering migrant smuggling
www.ombudsman.europa.eu/press-releas...
The proposals concerned:
☑️ Corporate sustainability (Omnibus I)
☑️ Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
☑️ Countering migrant smuggling
www.ombudsman.europa.eu/press-releas...
November 27, 2025 at 9:07 AM
We have found a number of procedural shortcomings in how @ec.europa.eu prepared legislative proposals that it considered urgent.
The proposals concerned:
☑️ Corporate sustainability (Omnibus I)
☑️ Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
☑️ Countering migrant smuggling
www.ombudsman.europa.eu/press-releas...
The proposals concerned:
☑️ Corporate sustainability (Omnibus I)
☑️ Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
☑️ Countering migrant smuggling
www.ombudsman.europa.eu/press-releas...
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
🚨 The budget also announced the gov will develop a new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery #AMLAR Strategy. With asset recovery rates flatlining, businesses compliance with AML rules still far too low, and a visit by the Financial Action Task Force #FATF on the horizon, this is urgently needed.
November 27, 2025 at 1:35 PM
🚨 The budget also announced the gov will develop a new Anti-Money Laundering and Asset Recovery #AMLAR Strategy. With asset recovery rates flatlining, businesses compliance with AML rules still far too low, and a visit by the Financial Action Task Force #FATF on the horizon, this is urgently needed.
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
It's not just the Budget this week. Representatives from the British Overseas Territories are in London to meet with the Government.
This is crucial moment to make progress on introducing transparency registers to crack down on international tax abuse. 1/2
This is crucial moment to make progress on introducing transparency registers to crack down on international tax abuse. 1/2
🆕 The APPG has coordinated a letter to the Government signed by 18 cross party MPs calling for an end to “embarrassing and costly” offshore financial secrecy, as covered by Politico 👇
November 25, 2025 at 5:38 PM
It's not just the Budget this week. Representatives from the British Overseas Territories are in London to meet with the Government.
This is crucial moment to make progress on introducing transparency registers to crack down on international tax abuse. 1/2
This is crucial moment to make progress on introducing transparency registers to crack down on international tax abuse. 1/2
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
NEW: The New York Times got a State Dept. cable in which Rubio orders diplomats in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to press for immigration limits and cite crime. They’re also told to report on governments that are pro-immigration. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
U.S. to Press Europe and Other Allies on ‘Mass Migration,’ Document Says
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:28 PM
NEW: The New York Times got a State Dept. cable in which Rubio orders diplomats in Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand to press for immigration limits and cite crime. They’re also told to report on governments that are pro-immigration. Our story: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Enhancing the use of beneficial ownership information to strengthen asset recovery - progress report
www.linkedin.com/posts/stephe...
#CoSP11 #UnitedAgainstCorruption #beneficialownership #assetrecovery #datastandards #openstandards #UBO #AML #opencontracting #GODIN
www.linkedin.com/posts/stephe...
#CoSP11 #UnitedAgainstCorruption #beneficialownership #assetrecovery #datastandards #openstandards #UBO #AML #opencontracting #GODIN
November 27, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Enhancing the use of beneficial ownership information to strengthen asset recovery - progress report
www.linkedin.com/posts/stephe...
#CoSP11 #UnitedAgainstCorruption #beneficialownership #assetrecovery #datastandards #openstandards #UBO #AML #opencontracting #GODIN
www.linkedin.com/posts/stephe...
#CoSP11 #UnitedAgainstCorruption #beneficialownership #assetrecovery #datastandards #openstandards #UBO #AML #opencontracting #GODIN
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Document parsing benchmarks have been measuring the wrong thing.
We tested every major parser on real enterprise documents.
The results will change how you think about OCR accuracy 🧵
We tested every major parser on real enterprise documents.
The results will change how you think about OCR accuracy 🧵
November 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Document parsing benchmarks have been measuring the wrong thing.
We tested every major parser on real enterprise documents.
The results will change how you think about OCR accuracy 🧵
We tested every major parser on real enterprise documents.
The results will change how you think about OCR accuracy 🧵
The @nytimes.com on citizens' assemblies in Belgium
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/w... cc @timdavies.org.uk
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/w... cc @timdavies.org.uk
Democracy Is in Trouble. This Region Is Turning to Its People.
www.nytimes.com
November 27, 2025 at 9:04 AM
The @nytimes.com on citizens' assemblies in Belgium
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/w... cc @timdavies.org.uk
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/w... cc @timdavies.org.uk
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
In the spirit of using AI to do dishes so I can do art, I tested out Antigravity/Gemini 3 with a gnarly PDF parsing job. What I got back was orders of magnitude better than any other tool I've used over a period of years: mattwaite.github.io/posts/2025-1...
Parsing PDFs with Antigravity – Matt Waite’s Collection of Miscellany
In a word: Gobsmacked.
mattwaite.github.io
November 26, 2025 at 2:52 PM
In the spirit of using AI to do dishes so I can do art, I tested out Antigravity/Gemini 3 with a gnarly PDF parsing job. What I got back was orders of magnitude better than any other tool I've used over a period of years: mattwaite.github.io/posts/2025-1...