Stephen Abbott Pugh
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stephenabbottpugh.bsky.social
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/
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Representing Roman Abramovich - a sanctioned Russian oligarch - while serving as Conservative shadow Attorney-General risks a huge conflict of interest.

Kemi Badenoch needs to make a choice. Either Lord Wolfson continues as shadow AG or advises Abramovich.

He can’t do both.
December 31, 2025 at 9:32 AM
Learn about how the most influential news media orgs from countries across the EU are owned/controlled via @mediaownership.bsky.social’s new country reports and an interactive database created using the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard media-ownership.eu #beneficialownership #openstandards
December 29, 2025 at 8:39 PM
One address and 85,000 companies: Welcome to Shelton Street - @thetimes.com reports on the potential risks associated with illegitimate companies registered with Companies House at mass registration addresses alongside thousands of legitimate firms www.thetimes.com/article/7850...
One address and 85,000 companies: Welcome to Shelton Street
Registered addresses are nothing unusual in business. The number of firms linked to one address in Covent Garden, however, is giving fraud experts pause
www.thetimes.com
December 29, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
We strongly condemn the U.S. decision to impose travel restrictions on five European individuals, including former Commissioner Thierry Breton.

Link to full statement: link.europa.eu/NtMX4K
December 24, 2025 at 1:46 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
The Trump administration is recalling nearly 30 ambassadors, all of whom are career diplomats. A union says there has never been such a mass recall in the history of the foreign service. Morale has been plummeting in the State Department all year. Story: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/u...
Trump Administration Orders Nearly 30 U.S. Ambassadors to Leave Their Posts
www.nytimes.com
December 23, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
SCOOP-1: The @nytimes.com has confirmed the following previously unreported donations/pledges to the WH ballroom:

▶️Miriam Adelson’s foundation: $25m
▶️Lockheed Martin: $10m
▶️Palantir: $10m
▶️Ripple: $5m
▶️Parsons: $2.5m
▶️Roblox CEO: $2.5

Here's a gift link.

There's more in the story 🧵…
Hundreds of Big Post-Election Donors Have Benefited From Trump’s Return to Office (Gift Article)
Well into his second term, the president and his allies have continued aggressively raising money. Many donors have interests before his administration, The Times found.
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reminder: you have until midnight CET on Christmas Eve to submit feedback to @ec.europa.eu on the formats for submission of beneficial ownership information to central registers.

ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

My feedback:
ec.europa.eu/info/law/bet...

#beneficialownership #openstandards
European Commission - Have your say
European Commission - Have your say
ec.europa.eu
December 23, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
➡️ 15 Ambassadorships
➡️ 2 Pardons
➡️ Hundreds of White House invitations
➡️ 13 Dropped investigations
➡️ Dozens of executive actions

Inside Trump’s FUNDRAISING BONANZA at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. W/ @kenvogel.bsky.social (1/2)
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
Hundreds of Big Post-Election Donors Have Benefited From Trump’s Return to Office
Well into his second term, the president and his allies have continued aggressively raising money. Many donors have interests before his administration, The Times found.
www.nytimes.com
December 22, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
SCOOP: Trump is pushing out more Biden-era ambassadors — this time it's career Foreign Service officers, which is unusual. A State source say it's around two dozen people. (This is the subscriber version. A free version will be up soon & I'll link to it.)
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...
POLITICO Pro: Trump ousts more Biden-era ambassadors
The envoys are career Foreign Service officers, making the decision to remove them unusual.
subscriber.politicopro.com
December 19, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
According to a Financial Times investigation, the Trump business has already reaped more than $1bn in pre-tax profits over the past year, in part thanks to a crypto boom fuelled by the administration’s own industry-friendly policies

www.ft.com/content/2ea2...
FT Investigation: How the Trump companies made $1bn from crypto
The president and his family have built a rapidly growing digital assets empire which has been fuelled by the administration’s industry-friendly policies
www.ft.com
October 16, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Rachel de Souza: ‘No one should be getting rich off the backs of vulnerable children’

The children’s commissioner for England is calling for radical investment to stop the profiteers who have turned the vital care of young people into a gold rush

https://bit.ly/4ao0BGH
Rachel de Souza: ‘No one should be getting rich off the b...
The children’s commissioner for England is calling for radical investment to stop the profiteers who have turned the vital care of young people into a gold rush
bit.ly
December 22, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Trump's absolutely correct that a new golden age is upon us—for white-collar criminals.

My essay in @theguardian.com on how white-collar criminals just had the best year they've ever seen:

www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Thanks to Donald Trump, 2025 was a good year … for white-collar criminals
Why would the Trump administration choose to set aside consequences from criminals whose actions threaten the stability of the broader American economy?
www.theguardian.com
December 21, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
New column:

Children’s Commissioner joins fight against profiteering from children’s social care. Via Substack.

open.substack.com/pub/martinba...
Children’s Commissioner joins fight against profiteering from children’s social care
Who said “No one should be getting rich off the backs of vulnerable children” this week?
open.substack.com
December 21, 2025 at 7:23 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
An investigation by The Sunday Times has discovered that Beijing has been steadily increasing its diplomatic presence in the UK, adding new officials every two months, and has been buying properties across London
‘Invasion of spies’: inside the fight to build China’s new embassy
Beijing has been buying up homes and assembling a legion of officials to support its £750m embassy plan
www.thetimes.com
December 21, 2025 at 7:02 AM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
🔺EXCLUSIVE: Mishcon de Reya, the London law firm that was once solicitor for Princess Diana, handled a multimillion-pound property purchase for the man subsequently accused of heading up the world’s most successful organised crime group
Mishcon de Reya handled property deal for ‘romance scam billionaire’
www.thetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
🎉 🥳 #UNCAC #CoSP11 adopted resolution on political finance transparency, making it the first-ever set of principles agreed at UN-level to promote accountability in funding of political parties and campaigns. Congrats, Norway, Albania, Ghana, Mongolia @anticorruption.bsky.social @ifes.bsky.social!
December 19, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
A major Tory donor has been sanctioned in the UK and EU for his alleged role in the Russian oil trade.

The oil magnate Murtaza Lakhani was hit with a UK asset freeze and travel ban on the grounds that his activities were assisting Russia.

www.thetimes.com/uk/law/artic...
Major Tory donor sanctioned over role in Russian oil trade
The government sanctioning statement alleges that Murtaza Lakhani’s activities in the oil sector have supported the Kremlin
www.thetimes.com
December 18, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
The Trump trail has taken me to Gibraltar. To answer a question: Why did the son of the most powerful man on the planet show up at a law firm in a tiny British outpost one Friday this November looking for money? @theguardian.com
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Why did Donald Trump Jr turn up in a tiny British enclave looking for money?
Meetings in Gibraltar are the latest twist in worldwide campaign that is enriching the US president’s family
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:18 AM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
“By requiring these corporate entities to provide beneficial ownership information, the CTA regulates how they operate and the level of secrecy with which they do business,” Circuit Judge Andrew Brasher wrote on behalf of the panel. https://loom.ly/KUNZwFQ
Eleventh Circuit Upholds Embattled Corporate Transparency Act as Constitutional| Law.com
With the Corporate Transparency Act under fire in numerous courts around the country, the statute is likely to wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court. Jamie Schafer, a partner and firmwide co-chair of Perkins Coie’s regulatory compliance and disputes practice, found that the Eleventh Circuit’s reasoning for upholding the law may be persuasive for the justices.
www.law.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Another bombshell opinion has been issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (@eucourtofjustice.bsky.social) which says that public access to shareholder information isn't aligned with GDPR data rules and should be subject to a legitimate interest test

www.linkedin.com/posts/stephe...
December 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Stephen Abbott Pugh
Watch this one. I suggested it wasn’t going away… and it hasn’t. The law remains on the books, and an appellate court just ruled it constitutional.
(Treasury has declared that domestic companies don’t have to provide it.)
I predict more lawsuits.
www.forbes.com/sites/kellyp...
www.forbes.com
December 18, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Another bombshell opinion has been issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union (@eucourtofjustice.bsky.social) which says that public access to shareholder information isn't aligned with GDPR data rules and should be subject to a legitimate interest test

www.linkedin.com/posts/stephe...
December 18, 2025 at 1:13 PM