follow the money
Trace financial trails
Follow the money is an investigative principle: to understand events, trace how money flows.
The phrase gained currency from the Watergate scandal, where financial trails exposed political corruption.
It implies that financial records reveal motives and connections that people try to hide: If you want to know who's really behind it, follow the money.
- accountRecord of dealings
- financeProvide money for
- put two and two togetherReach obvious conclusion
- traceMinute remnant or pursue
- connect the dotsNumbered-point tracing puzzle
audit · probe · investigate · examine · corruption · criminal enterprise · forensic accounting · kickbacks · tax havens · slush fund · fraud detection · cooked books · shell companies · whistleblowing · scrutinize · smoking gun · public disclosure · detective
- crime investigationdetective, whodunit, investigation, detectives, investigator
- journalismreporters, interview, editors, student editors, school paper
- denialismclimate denial, Holocaust denial, vaccine denial, denialism, anti-science
follow the moneytake at face value
Accept without deeper analysis
look the other way · turn a blind eye · willful ignorance · miss the forest for the trees · cover up
follow the moneycook the books
Fraudulently alter financial records
cover your tracks · muddy the waters · dark money · off the books
follow, money, follows, followed, following, follower, followers, moneys, monies