mesurier, especially regarding alleged fraud and lavish lifestyle, were dismissed in may 2020 by forensic audit experts from grant thornton, which came to a conclusion that "the key finding of our investigation of the flagged transactions leads us to believe that there is no evidence of misappropriation of funds. for the most part we have been able to refute the alleged irregularities." the audit highlighted that "book keeping was sloppy" in mayday, but admitted that in the complex war-time environment where the organization was operating these that understandable, and the leadership was able to ensure transparency and "high integrity" of its operations. publicity and recognition raed al-saleh (left), scd director, meets with uk foreign secretary jeremy hunt in 2018 scd is widely cited, quoted, or depicted in regional and international media coverage of the conflict in syria. raed al saleh, the director of scd, has been an outspoken advocate against bombardment of civilians, addressing the united nations security council and other international bodies on a number of occasions. scd has been the subject of two films. the streaming service netflix released a documentary film entitled the white helmets on 16 september 2016 by british director orlando von einsiedel and producer joanna natasegara. the film won the best documentary (short subject) at the 89th academy awards. scd head raed saleh was unable to attend the oscars ceremony due to escalation of the conflict, despite having a valid visa. khaled khateeb, cinematographer of the film, was unable to attend due to a visa problem. the associated press reported that the united states department of homeland security under president trump decided to block khaled khateeb at the 11th hour. released in 2017, last men in aleppo was directed by syrian director feras fayyad in collaboration with danish film-maker steven johannessen and the aleppo media centre; it was the winner of the grand jury documentary prize at the sundance film festival in 2017. scd was nominated for the 2016 nobel peace prize and was a recipient of the 2016 right livelihood award, the "alternative nobel prize". in 2017, it was awarded the mccall-pierpaoli humanitarian award by refugees international and its women volunteers were awarded the theirworld hope award by sarah brown's children's charity theirworld. female scd volunteer manal abazeed, who accepted these awards, was listed by fortune magazine as being among the "world's most powerful women" of 2017. in 2017, politico listed khaled omar harrah, a leading member in aleppo, known as the 'child rescuer', as one of the 28 people "shaping, shaking and stirring europe". he was killed in aleppo in an airstrike in august 2016. harrah is the main character in last men in aleppo, which was dedicated to him after his death. another prominent member is mohammed abu kifah, a civil defence team member who rescued another child from beneath the rubble in idlib. following his death in an apparent assassination on 12 august 2017, aged 25 years old, kifah's life was commemorated on bbc radio 4's last word. controversies information warfare campaign according to investigative journalists and analysts, scd became a target of a systematic information warfare campaign by the russian government, the syrian government, alt-right personalities, and their supporters, who have accused the organisation of taking sides in the syrian civil war, carrying arms, and supporting terrorist groups. the russian-funded rt television network and sputnik news agency have made controversial claims about scd, and multiple sources have found issues with the veracity and credibility of the claims. in an interview with reuters, facebook claimed that a hacking group based out of syria targeted the white helmets. olivia solon from the guardian speculated that scd was targeted because they document their activities with handheld and helmet cameras. this footage often shows the aftermath of airstrikes, and has been used by human rights groups such as amnesty international and the syria justice and accountability centre. according to the new york times, assad's claim that the white helmets are "al-qaeda members" was "without evidence". assertions made by rt contributor eva bartlett that the white helmets stage rescues and "recycle" children in its videos were reported by snopes and channel 4 news as being false "beyond a reasonable doubt". in december 2017, the guardian newspaper commented that it had "uncovered how this counter-narrative is propagated online by a network of anti-imperialist activists, conspiracy theorists and trolls with the support of the russian government ... ... attract an enormous online audience, amplified by high-profile alt-right personalities, appearances on russian state tv and an army of twitter bots." a study by tom wilson and kate starbird, published in the harvard kennedy school misinformation review in january 2020, found that anti–white helmet discourse dominated postings on twitter. relationship with sdf the white helmets have a hostile relationship with the majority-kurdish syrian democratic forces (sdf). the group operated in afrin until the local kurdish administration banned it in december 2015. it returned following the capture of the city by the turkish army and syrian rebels in the turkish-led operation olive branch in 2018. in june 2019, after fires set to crop fields by the islamic state of iraq and the levant threatened the food supply of syrians living in sdf-controlled areas, the white helmets offered to enter sdf territory and help fight the fires, but permission was denied. nicholas a. heras, a fellow at the center for a new american security, stated that the white helmets, as an organization, referred to turkey’s operation in afrin as the "liberation" of afrin, and maintained that there was "credible evidence" that the white helmets assisted turkish soldiers and rebels by providing de-mining assistance. the white helmets denied that they supported the campaign. other in november 2016, the revolutionaries of syria media office, an opposition media organisation, published a video showing two scd volunteers performing a staged rescue operation for the mannequin challenge meme. the white helmets apologised for their volunteers' error of judgement and said it had not shared the recording on their official channels. in june 2017, a member of the white helmets was suspended indefinitely after he was discovered to have assisted armed militants in the burial of mutilated corpses of soldiers belonging to pro-government forces. footage showing white helmets members removing a man's body following his execution by rebel militants has caused critics to accuse the group of "assisting" in executions. the leader of the white helmets has remarked that these are "isolated incidents" and are not representative of the leadership of the organisation. in 2018, anglican vicar andrew ashdown, along with church of england and house of lords figures such as lord carey of clifton and michael nazir-ali, visited syria and met with assad; ashdown accused the white helmets of being militants, and accused the group of "keeping an injured syrian child untreated and covered in dust and blood" for propaganda purposes. a uk foreign office memorandum criticized the trip, warning that it would be exploited by assad.