What happens when the news of an international bribery scandal is published, then a legal threat makes a publication pull back the news, frightening others from touching the story?

The nonprofit investigative group called 100 Reporters has the story. It's a complex tale, involving riches in the ground in the Congo, an oligarch-owned company from Kazakhstan, an Israeli businessman, a Swiss conglomerate, and the formerly fugitive U.S. businessman Marc Rich (beneficiary of a pardon from President Bill Clinton).

Imagine that a gigantic corporation privately informs the government that it won an important deal overseas that might have involved the bribery of foreign officials. Journalists discover a confidential document written by the company itself that highlights its concerns. But they can’t write about the story because the corporation hires a white shoe law firm that threatens legal action against media outlets that make inquiries about the document.

You can read the full story, "Mining Copper, Burying Truth," by Ken Silverstein of 100 Reporters.