Last year it was the Panama Papers, this year it’s all about the Paradise Papers.
Exposing the baking activities of more than 120 politicians around the world, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on Sunday published a “vast new trove of 13.4 million leaked documents,” reports VICE:
Included in the leak are documents connecting U.S. Commerce Secretary and billionaire financier Wilbur Ross to a shipping company that does business with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law.
This trove, which comes largely from Bermuda-based Appleby law firm, reveals offshore ties of a dozen Trump Cabinet members, advisors, and donors. It also shows the connections between a major investor in Twitter and Facebook with Russian state-owned businesses.
The papers are very similar to the Panama Papers and were released in the same manner: an anonymous source leaked them to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. From there, around 380 journalists spent a year combing through data that stretches back 70 years.
Here’s a short summary of what’s what, from The Guardian:
- Millions of pounds from the Queen’s private estate has been invested in a Cayman Islands fund – and some of her money went to a retailer accused of exploiting poor families and vulnerable people.
- Extensive offshore dealings by Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors, including substantial payments from a firm co-owned by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of the US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross.
- How Twitter and Facebook received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments that can be traced back to Russian state financial institutions.
- The tax-avoiding Cayman Islands trust managed by the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s chief moneyman.
- A previously unknown $450m offshore trust that has sheltered the wealth of Lord Ashcroft.
- Aggressive tax avoidance by multinational corporations, including Nike and Apple.
- How some of the biggest names in the film and TV industries protect their wealth with an array of offshore schemes, including Bono and Madonna.
- The billions in tax refunds by the Isle of Man and Malta to the owners of private jets and luxury yachts.
- The secret loan and alliance used by the London-listed multinational Glencore in its efforts to secure lucrative mining rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- The complex offshore webs used by two Russian billionaires to buy stakes in Arsenal and Everton football clubs.
Way more scandalous than the Panama version, hey? It will be interesting to see what follows.
Now, more than ever, you might want to heed our advice and speak to the experts at Galbraith Rushby, just in case you’re dealing in some dodgy business and need to get it off your chest.
[source:vice&theguardian]
