We are the Pandora Papers reporters who uncovered how allegedly looted Cambodian relics have ended up in some of the world’s top museums. Ask us anything!

Hi r/worldnews,

TL;DR: We’re reporters from ICIJ and the Washington Post who reported on (and are still investigating!) how secretive offshore companies have helped treasure hunters traffic antiquities around the world. We’ll be answering live from 3.30pm ET until about 4.30pm.

One month ago, a collaboration of 150 media outlets led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published the #PandoraPapers, an exposé of offshore financial secrecy based on a trove of 11.9 million leaked documents from firms that specialize in setting up secretive companies in tax havens.

Hidden in the dataset were new details about how precious artefacts were allegedly stolen from temples in Cambodia and elsewhere, and trafficked into the collections of some of the world’s top museums, including the Met in New York, the British Museum in London and more.

ICIJ and The Washington Post ( u/washingtonpost) reported together on the story of Douglas Latchford, a man that U.S. prosecutors allege was part of a decades-long ransacking of ancient Cambodian temples that ranks as one of the most devastating cultural thefts of the 20th century.

When the United States indicted Latchford in 2019, it seemed at last that hundreds of stolen items he had traded might be identified and returned. But then the 88-year-old Latchford died before trial, leaving unresolved a tantalizing question: What happened to all the money and looted treasures?

The answer lies, at least in part, in previously undisclosed records describing secret offshore companies and trusts that Latchford and his family controlled. You can read the full story here.

Since the story was published, investigators from the U.S. attorney’s office met with officials of the Metropolitan Museum of Art to discuss whether relics in the famed museum’s collection had been stolen from ancient sites, and the Denver Art Museum is preparing to return four antiquities to Cambodia.

We are reporters Malia Politzer and Spencer Woodman from ICIJ and Peter Whoriskey from The Washington Post, who spent months reporting out this story and are continuing to investigate the leaked documents for more cases of looted treasures. We’re joined by digital helpers Hamish Boland-Rudder and Asraa Mustufa from ICIJ and Angel Mendoza from WashPost. Ask us anything!

We’ll be answering live from 3.30pm-4.30pm ET.