About me: Reporter at the sports desk of Politiken since 2011, multiple award winner for investigations into the dark sides of sport – for instance a project spanning more than 10 years about this guy, the world’s largest doping kingpin
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Journalism about sport
Definition at our desk: We are not sports journalists. We are journalists working with sports
The business of sports: Massive amounts of money, political influence, public investments, emotional value, nest of crimes
Investigations into: Matchfixing, abuse of power, financial fraud, tax evasion, abuse of young athletes, corruption, cover-ups, exploitation of migrant workers
Key investigations: Football Leaks with European Investigative Collaborations and ‘doping in Denmark – from the elite to the crime behind everyday steroid use’
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Hunting a ghost
It all started with a rumour about Alpha-Pharma and mr. Jacob
Piecing together a puzzle with many indications – no smoking gun
A variety of tools: Doping fora, Google, visiting addresses in Denmark, a book by his mother, the Danish company registry, old phone books, Internet Archive, job postings and analysing the products of Alpha-Pharma
Creating order in chaos with spread sheets of time line, sources and personal gallery
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The Indian adventure
Undercover at the sceptical food and drug commissioner on a tourist visa
Visiting five adresses linked to mr. Jacob
Meeting mr. Joseph
Sending a hotel employee to the local company registry
The threat: ”Good luck getting out of Mumbai”
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The outcome of the Indian adventure
Jacob Sporon-Fiedler is the founder and director
The economical setup: Regular issuing of shares bought by a company in the Seychelles (probably black money)
Two other Danish names involved from the start-up
A Danish sentence for doping crimes on one of the other Danish men involved in Alpha-Pharma
A secret source: ”Jacob wanted to be big in underworld of steroid trade”
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The result
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The aftermath
Since 2012: Several articles on doping and a new law in Denmark
2015: Arrest of mr. Jacob in Heathrow Airport
2017: Meeting the police in Copenhagen
2019: Mr. Jacob sentenced as the biggest known doping mastermind in the world – smuggling tons of steroids each month, earning tens of million pounds on the black market
2023: Mr. Jacob back at business, revealed by ARD. Where does it end?
Three lessons: Creating order in chaos, ‘go there’ and persistence