Panama papers

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.”

Panama papers

Mossack Fonseca closes in Jersey, Isle of Man and Gibraltar, cuts back in Nevada and Wyoming 

The law firm at the source of the leaked Panama Papers said it's closing its offices in three offshore jurisdictions.

On Twitter Friday, Mossack Fonseca said:

Our offices in Jersey, Isle of Man and Gibraltar will be ceasing operations, but we will continue serving all of our clients.
                   — Mossack Fonseca (@Mossfon)

McClatchy reported last week that Mossack Fonseca's business partner in Wyoming, AAA Corporate Services, cut its ties to the law firm.

In Nevada, Mossack Fonseca's affiliate resigned as the registered agent for 1,024 companies.

Panama papers

Norway to regulate $850 billion fund's tax haven exposure-lawmakers

Norway will take a first step this week towards using its $850 billion sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest, as a tool to combat the use of tax havens, two key members of parliament's finance committee told Reuters on Wednesday.

The country's right-wing minority government will be asked to take a two-pronged approach to regulation, examining both the fund's own use of ownership structures designed to cut its liability for tax on its foreign investments as well as that of companies it invests in, the politicians said.

The move follows the Panama Papers leaks in April, which revealed details of corporate and individual tax evasion and triggered a global backlash against tax havens.

"We need to clarify the extent of the fund's exposure to tax havens," said finance committee chairman Hans Olav Syversen of the centrist opposition Christian Democrats, on which the government frequently relies for support.

Panama papers

HSBC boss on the Panama Papers: ‘We welcome more transparency’

At the annual general meeting of HSBC Holdings plc in London, Group Chairman Douglas Flint said the world is moving toward "greater transparency and fuller disclosure, which we welcome."

Europe is leading the world toward more transparency, Flint said, and the effort "has to be taken seriously."

His remarks were reported by the bank in its Form 6-K (Report of Foreign Private Issuer) filed with the SEC on April 22.

Flint said "the circumstances alleged in the Panama Papers with regard to HSBC are largely historical, in some cases dating back 20 years, and so predate the tough financial crime, regulatory compliance and tax transparency standards which HSBC has put in place in recent years."

Issues in its Swiss Private Bank had already caused HSBC to enforce more transparency and fuller disclosure, Flint said.

Panama papers

UKRAINE’S PRESIDENT OFFSHORES REVISITED: SWISS TRUST AND MILLIONS MOVED OUT OF UKRAINE

For six days in April, President Petro Poroshenko and his lawyers repeatedly said that none of the offshore companies Poroshenko set up in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Cyprus and the Netherlands have bank accounts or conduct any financial activities.

Those statements appear to be false.

Poroshenko said the offshore companies, identified by OCCRP and Slidstvo reporters on April 3 in the massive Panama Papers confidential data leak, are related to his efforts to put his candy company, Roshen Confectionery Corp., in a trust. That explanation was repeated several times between April 4 and 10.

But a check of the company registry in Cyprus has revealed financial transactions that cast doubt on the president’s version of events.

Panama papers

Nearly 500 New Yorkers’ offshore accounts exposed by Panama Papers

These are some of the New Yorkers who have parked their cash offshore or set up companies in farflung island nations to shelter their holdings.

Nearly 500 people and companies with New York addresses turned up last week in a searchable “Panama Papers” database reviewed by The New York Post.

They range from moguls to art-world luminaries to an East Village psychiatrist and a young television ­actress.

The International Consortium of ­Investigative Journalists put out the database containing information on nearly 320,000 offshore entities from the so-called Panama Papers and Offshore Leaks investigations.

The data dump is just a fraction of the more than 11 million leaked files from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, a leader in creating difficult-to-trace companies. Other data come from two additional companies that specialize in setting up offshore ­entities.

Panama papers

The Real Target of the Panama Papers

So this is the way the Panama Papers end. Not with a bang -- as in "Putin hiding US $2 billion"; you all remember the original headlines. But with a whimper; everyone lining up to duly access a prosaic database and find out the names of nearly 320,000 entities/offshore companies/trusts/foundations engaged in beautifying the finances of the rich and powerful.

The Soros-financed International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has not exactly fulfilled its mandate of heaping dirt on selected BRICS nations and the odd enemy of imperial interests/values -- based on a NSA-style hack of Mossack Fonseca.

So what's left is for everyone to freely peruse names and addresses of companies in 21 jurisdictions--including Hong Kong and Nevada in the U.S. Yet don't expect to see bank account numbers, phone numbers or compromising emails.

Panama -- where no one can flush a toilet without the U.S. government knowing about it -- is for suckers; the real elite, connected (or profiting) even indirectly from the real Masters of the Universe and the liquid modernity enablers of top of the line turbo-capitalism use hack-proof Luxembourg, Virgin Islands or Cayman Islands connections -- not to mention secure, Empire-based Delaware and Nevada loopholes.

Panama papers

Mapping The Panama Papers Middlemen

While the use of offshore entities is not in itself illegal, the revelations from the Panama Papers have already resulted in a raid by Swiss prosecutors on European football’s governing body UEFA and an official investigation by the authorities in Geneva.

On Monday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) put a database online with documents linked to the Panama Papers scandal. The database does not contain all the 11.5 million files leaked from the law firm Mossack Fonseca. For privacy reasons, the ICIJ has decided to not disclose documents such as phone numbers, financial transactions or passports.

But it does contain all the 214,000 offshore companies administrated at some point by Mossack Fonseca between 1977 and 2015, and more than 14,000 “intermediaries” that acted as middlemen to set up offshore companies. Intermediaries were typically law firms dealing with Mossack Fonseca to create an offshore firm for a client.

Panama papers

Panama Papers Link More Than 6,000 Russians to Offshore Companies

More than 6,000 Russian individuals and legal entities own or manage offshore companies, according to data published online by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

A global team of investigative reporters on May 9 opened access to the full database of offshore entities, drawn from the earlier Offshore Leaks investigation and the so-called Panama Papers — a huge leak of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

The database contains information about 320,000 offshore companies around the world and includes 11,516 offshore firms and 6,285 people connected with Russia.

These findings make Russia one of the countries with the largest number of citizens connected to offshore entities, the Vedomosti newspaper reported.

Panama papers

World: Panama law firm used charities’ names as cloaks for clients

The Panamanian law firm at the center of a global investigation advised some clients that they could cloak their money in foundations that named as beneficiaries prominent international charities such as the Red Cross, UNICEF and the World Wildlife Fund.

There’s no sign that any money from those offshore dealings went to the charities, whose spokespeople say they had no clue they were part of Mossack Fonseca’s marketing strategy.

A massive leak of records, which came to be known as the Panama Papers, has laid bare Mossack Fonseca’s services and its clients – among them world leaders, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. In their files are two memos suggesting that clients could move their assets into so-called “private foundations” with well-known charities as their supposed beneficiary. The papers suggest that the firm took steps to create such foundations for at least 700 clients.

Panama papers

Panama Papers Source Offers Documents To Governments, Hints At More To Come

The anonymous whistleblower behind the Panama Papers has conditionally offered to make the documents available to government authorities.

In a statement issued to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the so-called “John Doe” behind the biggest information leak in history cites the need for better whistleblower protection and has hinted at even more revelations to come.

Titled “The Revolution Will Be Digitized” the 1800-word statement gives justification for the leak, saying that “income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time” and says that government authorities need to do more to address it.

Süddeutsche Zeitung has authenticated that the statement came from the Panama Papers source. The statement in full...

Panama papers

Panama Papers source breaks silence, denies being a spy: Sueddeutsche Zeitung

Sueddeutsche Zeitung said on Friday that the source of millions of documents leaked to the German newspaper from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca had sent them a manifesto, saying his motivation was the "scale of injustices" the papers revealed.

The source had never before publicly stated why he leaked the documents, now known as the Panama Papers, said Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), one of Germany's most reputable newspapers.

In an 1,800 word manifesto published on the SZ website on Friday, the source, calling himself "John Doe", praised others who have leaked secret and sensitive documents, such as Edward Snowden, who revealed details of the U.S. government's mass surveillance program.

Panama papers

WikiLeaks’ On Panama Papers: ‘Everything Censored By Default’

WikiLeaks took to Twitter to criticize what the organization describes as the continued “censorship” of the Panama Papers archive by the organizations and reporters who control the contents of the leak.

The massive archive of 2.6 terabytes of financial data leaked from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca is controlled by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and hundreds of journalists who have been selected to write about the archive’s contents.

The Panama Papers exposed the efforts the world’s wealthiest people, including more than a dozen world leaders, take to hide their earnings from tax authorities. The release caused upheaval in Iceland’s governmentand protests in the United Kingdom.
A growing number of international authorities are demanding access to the archive, according to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, including a German finance minister and representatives of the U.S. Justice Department. But ICIJ’s director told DW last week that they would reject these and all similar requests.

Panama papers

How the One Percenters Divorce: Offshore Intrigue Plays Hide and Seek with Millions

“A dishonest husband is as much a fraudster as Bernard Madoff,” Martin Kenney, an asset recovery specialist in the British Virgin Islands who has worked on behalf of wives from Russia, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and the United States, told ICIJ. “These offshore companies and foundations . . . are instruments in a game of hide and concealment.”

At the heart of Elena Rybolovleva’s legal battle was the allegation that her estranged husband — now ranked by Forbes as Russia’s 14th richest man — had used tax havens to help obscure real estate and other wealth.

The documents Williams served that day targeted Rybolovlev’s $88 million New York City penthouse, a purchase that Elena claims violated an order by a Swiss court freezing his assets.

But her attorney claimed there were greater treasures at stake elsewhere. Rybolovlev controlled an offshore company that was used to buy and store artwork worth $650 million, her attorney alleged in court documents filed in the British Virgin Islands.

For decades, spouses — nearly always male and part of the global One Percent — have solicited Mossack Fonseca to help shield assets from soon-to-be exes, according to the files. And Mossack Fonseca has agreed with little hesitation.

Panama papers

3 Major Implications of the Panama Papers Leak

The use and abuse of offshore accounts has long been controversial. The practice involves individuals or companies opening bank accounts in low-tax jurisdictions — of which Panama is one — to gain monetary privacy and avoid taxation. Though the avoidance itself is largely legal, shell companies and the like are known to be associated with illegal activities like tax evasion, money laundering, fraud, and the underground economy.

The Panama Papers cracked into a vault of well-kept secrets and potentially ill-gotten wealth, revealing vast corruption among the world’s political elite. The major revelation, however, is not that powerful humans hoard billions in offshore banks, but rather the detail in the proof of their dealings.

The Panama Papers are, in fact, larger than WikiLeaks in 2010 and the Snowden’s NSA leak in 2013 combined. The sheer breadth of information unveiled will help investigators understand how the industry evolved over time, and how individuals and corporations work together to shield their wealth.

Panama papers

Panama Papers and ‘who owns what’ — big implications for financial services

The mushrooming “Panama Papers” scandal is a warning to financial services firms that they cannot be complacent about their obligation to determine beneficial ownership, know their customers, and perform due diligence on all of their business associates.

Several governments across the world, including the United States have initiated investigationsof possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful after a leak of four decades of documents (dubbed the “Panama Papers”) belonging to a Panamanian law firm that specialized in setting up offshore companies.

The U.S. Department of Justice is determining whether the findings point to evidence of corruption and other violations of U.S. law, and the anti-bribery unit of the Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing the disclosures for investigative leads.

The revelations are also prompting a number of financial transparency groups to nudge the U.S. Treasury’s anti-money laundering unit to issue a final rule requiring investment advisers to help combat financial crime.

Panama papers

Panama Papers: More Trouble For The West Than Russia

...Regardless who is behind the Panama Papers, the leak could cause trouble in a number of European countries and among key U.S. allies. The paradox here is that while the sums connected to Western countries may be much smaller than Russia’s “$2 billion,” the Western public and media are less tolerant of non-transparent dealings or whiffs of corruption. They will expect complete accountability unlike in Russia. The Prime Minister of Iceland has already resigned. 

After facing criticism, Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron admitted that he profited from an offshore trust where his shares were about $40,000. Despite the insignificant sums, Cameron’s scandal could not come at a less opportune time: The Prime Minster is the public face of a campaign against Brexit(Britain’s referendum to leave the EU). The mishap could have implications for the June 23 vote. An EU without Britain is a weaker EU and a weaker ally for the United States.

Panama papers

Cheating, Divorce And Panama Papers

There may be only one thing super-rich men fear more than the tax authorities, and it's a wife gearing up for divorce. Panama has havens for that too.

The divorce of Dmitry Rybolovlev and his then wife Elena was not just spectacular melodrama, but also a textbook example of the lengths rich people (in most cases men) go to protect their considerable wealth in case of a marital breakup.

Rybolovlev, one of the richest men on the planet according to Forbes, had not only tucked away his wealth away in tax havens but tried to literally hide paintings, home furnishings and a yacht to prevent his wife from being able to lay claim to them. The internal papers of Mossack Fonseca, a Panama law firm, document Elena Rybolovlev’s lawyers’ efforts to recover these items.

Panama papers

Operation Goldfinger

On July 4, 1986, a fourengine Boeing 707 landed in Tehran, the Iranian capital. It had taken off in Rijeka, Yugoslavia, fully loaded with valuable goods from the United States. Seven years after the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian regime was suffering from the sanctions the US had imposed. The airplane was thus delivering military equipment that was in short supply, including defense missiles and replacement parts for fighter jets – all of which were subjected to the embargo.

The delivery was a typical undercover operation: officially, Iran and the United States were archenemies. And yet the military supplies aboard the Boeing were American. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) orchestrated the delivery in exchange for the release of American hostages in Lebanon. Iran was to arrange the release, in addition to paying for the arms. The CIA would then use the funds to finance the uprising of the Contra rebels in Nicaragua.

The Iran-Contra affair was only exposed later on. Oliver North, who worked for the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House, was one of several people who had to testify at a congressional hearing. Initially, the operation was meant to remain secret, which explains why the Reagan administration couldn’t make the military delivery with the US Air Force.

Panama papers

The PANAMA PAPERS HEIST BY THE CIA-NSA AIMED AT BERLIN, BRICS, ALBA, …

In Summary: The CIA routinely betrays and abuses German interests. The last straw is the Snowden revelation of NSA intercepts of every email out of the Chancellor’s office and eavesdropping on their phone conversations by bugging optical fiber.

Germany retaliates by shutting down the joint Wharpdrive project for monitoring communications on the super-fast DE-CIX network and then expelling the Berlin CIA station chief.

CIA Munich then bribes a BND file clerk to steal the Mossack Fonseca archives. After vetting the legal papers for Agency spooks, the archive is trucked to CIA-controlled Suddeutsche Zeitung, to put a stick in Merkel’s eye on her home turf. MossFon is redacted to target the leaders of the BRICS group and ALBA alliance.

Various related aspects to this spy-versus-spy warfare are disclosed here by a real investigative journalist who works far outside the CIA cage holding the chattering monkeys of ICIJ.