PANAMA PAPERS: RICH AMERICANS USED LAW FIRM TO EVADE TAX LAWS TOO
Though the initial stories on the massive leak of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca—popularly known as the Panama Papers—focused on non-American political and economic figures, continued investigations and reporting have revealed some noteworthy American clients.
On Sunday, The New York Times published a story linking Mossack Fonseca to rich Americans looking to game or possibly violate US tax laws. Those cited include hedge fund manager William Ponsoldt and former Citigroup CEO Sanford Weill.
It looks as though American clients used Mossack Fonseca’s services to hide assets under another name for non-specified purposes in some cases, though based on correspondence reviewed by the Times it also is clear gaming, if not cheating the US tax code, was a primary objective.
In the case of the Ponsoldt family, it seems rather clear that the point of using the Panamanian firm and its connections to offshore banks was to avoid gift taxes, with William Ponsoldt’s son, Christopher Ponsoldt, receiving a “pre-inheritance distribution.”
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