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Ben ButlerNational Investigations Editor

Ben Butler has investigated everything from bikie gangs to multibillion dollar international frauds, with a particular focus on the intersection between the corporate and criminal worlds. He has previously worked for mastheads including The Age, The Australian and The Guardian.

Ben Butler

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Business

Saudi Aramco has awarded WorleyParsons a contract to provide project management services for its offshore program. The contract is an extension of a current one that has been in place for the past 12 years.

Worley admits corruption findings

Engineering group Worley has admitted to investors that an arbitration tribunal made corruption findings against it relating to contracts in Ecuador.

exclusiveBusiness

Worley faces ASX over Ecuador corruption questions

The ASX has forced Worley into a trading halt to answer questions over The Australian’s reporting on findings the company acted corruptly in Ecuador.

ExclusiveNational

The Ecuadorian flag flies outside the Presidential Palace in Quito, Ecuador, on Monday, May 24, 2021. Guillermo Lasso takes office as Ecuador's president Monday promising to dig the nation out of its deepest economic slump in decades through mass vaccination and by making the country more investor-friendly. Photographer: Johis Alarcon/Bloomberg

‘Illegality and bad faith’: Shock finding for Aussie company

Australian engineering contractor Worley has been engulfed in scandal after an international tribunal found the company acted in a corrupt way. Worley disputes the findings.

Business

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos April 23, 2021: Signs on doors and windows of buy now pay later stocks in Rundle Mall Adelaide. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Mariuz

$1bn rip off: How banks are taking Aussies’ money

Millions of Australians are being ripped off from their everyday purchases because of a sneaky tactic banks are doing every time you use your credit card.

World

29/06/2008 WIRE: In this Sept. 7, 2007 file photo, fashion model Ruslana Korshunova wears a design during a presentation of The Cynthia Rowley 2008 spring/summer collection in New York. Korshunova, 20, fell to her death from her Manhattan apartment building Saturday, June 28, 2008 in an apparent suicide, published reports said. Police said the fall was under investigation. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)

Supermodel ‘killed herself’ after Epstein ‘paedo island’

The world-renowned ‘Russian Rapunzel’, who fell to her death from a New York apartment, was revealed to have flown on the so-called ‘Lolita Express’ as an aspiring teen model.

World

Bill Clinton, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Picture: Getty Images

Ghislaine Maxwell breaks silence on Epstein sex files

Disgraced socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has responded to the explosive release of court documents revealing Jeffrey Epstein’s chilling crimes.

ExplainerWorld

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on July 2, 2020 shows Ghislaine Maxwell (L) during an event on September 20, 2013 in New York City and an undated handout photo obtained on July 11, 2019 courtesy of the New York State Sex Offender Registry of Jeffrey Epstein (R). - Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a US judge on June 28, 2022, for helping the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse girls. The term, handed down in the Manhattan federal court, means the 60-year-old former socialite will spend much of the rest of her life in jail. (Photo by Laura Cavanaugh and Handout / various sources / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NEW YORK STATE SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY / LAURA CAVANAUGH" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

What the unsealed Jeffrey Epstein files mean

Hundreds of pages of previously unsealed documents connected to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein have been made public. Take a look at who the man is and what the files mean.

Social

(FILES) Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and X, speaks to reporters as he leaves the âAI Insight Forumâ at the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2023. US market regulators on October 5, 2023, asked a judge to order Elon Musk to comply with a subpoena to answer questions about his purchases of Twitter shares last year. Musk, who beefed up his stake in Twitter before buying the company for $44 billion, did not show up for a scheduled deposition in September with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a legal filing. (Photo by Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

Elon Musk fails to pay Twitter internet bill

Just $76,200 in unpaid internet bills could bring down a Singapore company that formed a key part of the Twitter empire before its takeover by eccentric billionaire Elon Musk.

National

Gambling tradies’ tax stoush secrets

A pair of cashed-up tradies who gambled heavily at Crown casino and at private poker games are fighting massive tax bills – but court rules mean you’re not allowed to know who they are.

EXCLUSIVENational

Former champion jockey Danny Nikolic has been accused of breaking the rear vision mirror of a private eye’s car after being served with court papers., Footage of the incident, which occurred on Wednesday in Melbourne’s western suburbs, shows a visibly angry Nikolic getting out of his luxury Porsche Cayenne and abusing the private detective. Supplied

‘Visibly angry’ Danny Nikolic in shock video

Dramatic footage of the former jockey has surfaced, showing him lashing out after being served with court papers. Watch the video.

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