The Sentry

The Sentry is an American nonprofit investigative and policy organization focused on the financial systems that enable mass atrocities, armed conflict, repression, and kleptocratic rule. Rather than treating violence solely as a security or humanitarian problem, the organization examines the commercial structures behind it: corrupt officials, military-linked businesses, politically connected intermediaries, offshore companies, banks, professional enablers, and multinational firms whose activities may help sustain abusive regimes or conflict economies. The organization developed from the human-rights advocacy work associated with Not on Our Watch, a group established in 2008 by Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, David Pressman, and Jerry Weintraub. Not on Our Watch sought to draw public attention to atrocities in Darfur and other crises and to mobilize resources for efforts intended to prevent or halt mass violence. Its intellectual roots included the book Not on Our Watch, written by Don Cheadle and human-rights activist John Prendergast. Prendergast later served as a board member and strategic adviser. The Sentry was launched in 2016 by Clooney and Prendergast as a more investigation-centered initiative. Its work produces reports, investigative dossiers, and policy recommendations concerning individuals, companies, and networks allegedly associated with corruption and violence. The organization’s approach is designed to convert research into pressure by engaging governments, financial regulators, prosecutors, banks, investors, and other private-sector actors. Recommended tools include anti-money-laundering enforcement, measures against illicit finance, targeted sanctions, criminal investigations, compliance reviews, and recovery of assets connected to corruption. In February 2019, Not on Our Watch merged with The Sentry. The merger preserved the existing board structure and combined the earlier organization’s public advocacy and atrocity-prevention background with The Sentry’s investigative and financial-pressure model. The resulting organization operates at the intersection of human-rights advocacy, financial transparency, sanctions policy, and conflict prevention. The Sentry is not a conventional consumer brand and does not sell a conventional product line. Its principal outputs are public-interest investigations, country and network analyses, policy briefings, and advocacy aimed at changing the conduct of governments and private institutions. Its work has particularly addressed African conflict and corruption settings, including Sudan and South Sudan, while its proposed remedies often depend on action by institutions in the United States, Europe, and international financial centers. The organization’s positioning is that violent kleptocracy can be weakened by identifying and disrupting the financial relationships that make it profitable and politically sustainable.

The Sentry’s history is rooted in the international response to mass atrocities in Darfur. In 2007 and 2008, actor Don Cheadle and human-rights advocate John Prendergast helped bring the subject of atrocity prevention to a wider public through the book Not on Our Watch and related advocacy. In 2008, Cheadle, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, David Pressman, and Jerry Weintraub established Not on Our Watch. The organization sought to increase public awareness of human-rights abuses, beginning with Darfur and extending its concern to other situations involving mass violence. It also aimed to provide resources and public support for efforts to prevent or end atrocities. Not on Our Watch used the visibility of artists, activists, and cultural figures to keep otherwise distant humanitarian crises in public discussion. Its work belonged to a period in which celebrity-led human-rights initiatives increasingly attempted to connect public awareness with institutional action. The organization also supported or worked alongside projects intended to document conflict and expose abuses. Among these was the Satellite Sentinel Project, which was co-founded by George Clooney and John Prendergast and used satellite imagery and related analysis to monitor potential threats and violations in Sudan and South Sudan. The Sentry represented a subsequent development in this approach. Launched in 2016 by Clooney and Prendergast, it concentrated on the economic structures associated with conflict and authoritarian abuse. Its investigations examined the people, companies, transactions, and professional relationships that can allow corrupt and violent systems to move money, acquire assets, access international markets, and maintain political influence. The organization’s central premise is that perpetrators and their networks may be vulnerable to pressure at the points where they interact with banks, corporations, regulators, law-enforcement agencies, and global financial infrastructure. Accordingly, The Sentry’s output has consisted primarily of investigative reports and dossiers rather than consumer products. Its policy agenda includes stronger anti-money-laundering controls, enforcement against illicit finance, targeted sanctions, criminal prosecutions, private-sector compliance measures, and the recovery of assets connected to corruption. These recommendations seek to make financial and commercial consequences part of the response to atrocities, rather than relying only on diplomatic condemnation or humanitarian relief. In February 2019, Not on Our Watch merged with The Sentry. The merger maintained the board of directors and the general scope of work while bringing the earlier group’s public-facing atrocity-prevention mission together with The Sentry’s specialized investigative model. The combined organization therefore carries forward both strands of its history: raising awareness and mobilizing public concern on the one hand, and tracing the financial networks that can sustain violence and repression on the other. The Sentry’s work is international in subject matter but institutionally oriented toward the jurisdictions and financial systems capable of imposing pressure. Its investigations have addressed African conflict and corruption contexts, while its recommendations are directed at governments, banks, businesses, regulators, prosecutors, and policymakers. The organization’s continuing identity is that of a watchdog and policy advocate seeking to disrupt predatory networks rather than merely document their abuses.

• 2019

  Merger with Not on Our Watch

  [1]The Sentry (organization)en.wikipedia.org

  Not on Our Watch merges with The Sentry in February, combining public atrocity-prevention advocacy with investigations into illicit financial networks.

• 2016

  The Sentry launches

  [1]The Sentry (organization)en.wikipedia.org

  George Clooney and John Prendergast launch The Sentry as an investigative and policy initiative focused on corruption, conflict finance, and networks connected to violence.

• 2008

  Not on Our Watch is established

  [1]The Sentry (organization)en.wikipedia.org

  Don Cheadle, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt, David Pressman, and Jerry Weintraub establish Not on Our Watch to raise awareness of atrocities in Darfur and other crises and support efforts to prevent mass violence.

A nonprofit investigative and policy organization linking human-rights protection with financial crime, sanctions, and conflict-finance analysis.

• Research and advocacy · 2016

  Investigative reports

  Public-interest investigations examining individuals, companies, and networks associated with corruption, violent conflict, repression, or kleptocratic systems. The reports are intended to provide evidence and analysis that can inform government action, financial-sector compliance, sanctions decisions, and public accountability.

• Research and advocacy · 2016

  Investigative dossiers

  Structured case files and network analyses that connect people and entities to illicit finance, grand corruption, or conflict-related commercial activity. These dossiers support The Sentry’s effort to identify pressure points for regulators, prosecutors, banks, and other private institutions.

• Policy advocacy · 2016

  Policy recommendations

  Recommendations calling for anti-money-laundering enforcement, illicit-finance controls, targeted sanctions, criminal prosecutions, stronger corporate and banking compliance, and asset recovery. They translate investigative findings into proposed legal, regulatory, and institutional responses.

• 2026

  Ahmed Gadalla brings defamation proceedings against The Sentry

  Libyan steel magnate Ahmed Gadalla brought defamation proceedings against The Sentry, challenging allegations in its investigation linking him to financial misconduct and the funding of Russian mercenaries. The article does not report a court determination.

  Source

Read more

• 2016Financial pressure on predatory networks

  United States · Africa · international financial markets

  The Sentry’s continuing advocacy model uses investigations into conflict and corruption networks to encourage sanctions, anti-money-laundering action, criminal prosecutions, private-sector compliance, and asset recovery.

  Source
• 2008Not on Our Watch

  United States · Darfur · international

  A public-awareness and resource-mobilization initiative created to focus attention on mass atrocities in Darfur and beyond. It brought together entertainment figures, activists, and human-rights advocates around atrocity prevention.

  Outcome. The initiative later became part of the organizational foundation for The Sentry and merged with it in 2019.

  Source
• 2007Satellite Sentinel Project

  Sudan · South Sudan · international

  A monitoring partnership associated with George Clooney and John Prendergast that used satellite imagery and related analysis to observe conflict risks and potential human-rights violations in Sudan and South Sudan.

  Source

• 2019

  Merge Not on Our Watch with The SentryM&A

  Background

  Not on Our Watch and The Sentry shared founders, advisers, and a broad concern with mass atrocities and conflict-related abuses, while The Sentry added a specialized financial-investigation capability.

  Action taken

  The organizations merged in February 2019, retaining the board of directors and the overall scope of work.

  Aftermath

  The combined organization linked Not on Our Watch’s public advocacy heritage with The Sentry’s investigative and policy-pressure approach.

  Source

• 2016

  Adopt an investigative conflict-finance modelStrategy

  Background

  The organization was created to examine the financial and commercial networks that benefit from violent conflict, repression, and grand corruption.

  Action taken

  The Sentry began producing investigative reports and dossiers and advocating financial and legal tools against the networks identified in its research.

  Aftermath

  The model positioned the organization at the intersection of human-rights advocacy, financial transparency, sanctions policy, and conflict prevention.

  Source

• 2019

  Not on Our Watch merges with The Sentry[1]The Sentry (organization)en.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  In February 2019, the two organizations combined, retaining the board and broadening the connection between atrocity-prevention advocacy and financial-network investigations.

• 2016

  The Sentry launches as an investigative initiative on conflict and corruption finance[1]The Sentry (organization)en.wikipedia.org

  Other · Campaign

  The Sentry began producing investigations and dossiers on people and entities linked to grand corruption and violent conflict, pairing research with recommendations for financial and legal pressure.

1. 1The Sentry (organization)en.wikipedia.org
2. 2Not on Our Watch Project websitenotonourwatchproject.org
3. 3Ahmed Gadalla brings defamation proceedings against The Sentryibtimes.co.uk