Members of Congress participating in the trip later stated that they had not known that the trip had been funded by SOCAR. SOCAR itself stated that its sponsorship had never been a secret. In 2017, it became known that SOCAR had made illegal payments totaling 28,000 euros to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany district association in Frankfurt in 2012. By accepting the donations, the party violated the Political Parties Act, as corporate donations from non-EU countries are prohibited. The case led to a years-long legal dispute with the Bundestag administration, of which the public did not learn. In 2018, it became known that SOCAR paid a controversial donation of 3,000 euros to the German sports club "TuS Dexheim" in 2014. The donation was organized by the then-mayor of Oppenheim and former Social Democratic Party of Germany member of the Bundestag Marcus Held. Murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia SOCAR is also part of corruption revelations that led to the murder of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in October 2017. SOCAR's Maltese chief is in custody as a main suspect in connection with the murder. In April 2021, a Swiss court dismissed a lawsuit by SOCAR, in which Azerbaijan's state-owned company sought to prevent the disclosure of bank information to Latvian police. Latvia is investigating suspicious payments of about 28 million euros by Azerbaijani-controlled shell companies linked to an agreement between the Maltese government and SOCAR. The agreement became public during the investigative research of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Latvian authorities were able to force Swiss banks to release banking information about SOCAR in connection with the investigation of an international money laundering scandal. War propaganda In 2020, SOCAR came under criticism after it publicly engaged in war propaganda against Armenia on behalf of the Azerbaijani government during the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Sponsorship Since 2012, SOCAR has sought to avoid U.S. sanctions aimed at Iran, its partner in a 28 billion dollar Caspian Sea natural gas project. SOCAR funded an all-expenses-paid US-Azerbaijan "energy conference" in Baku for 10 members of Congress and 32 staff members which took place on 28 and 29 May 2013. It used two Houston based non-profit organizations, the Assembly of the Friends of Azerbaijan (AFAZ) and the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians, both run by Kemal Oksuz as conduits. In May 2013, UEFA announced that SOCAR is an