Free Republic

[Subtitle: “I hope that my story will help you understand the methods of Russian operatives in Washington and how they use U.S. enablers to achieve major foreign policy goals without disclosing those interests,” Browder writes.]The financier Bill Browder has emerged as an unlikely central player in the ongoing investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Sergei Magnitsky, an attorney Browder hired to investigate official corruption, died in Russian custody in 2009. Congress subsequently imposed sanctions on the officials it held responsible for his death, passing the Magnitsky Act in 2012. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government retaliated, among other ways,...

...The documents analysed by Russian journalists from Novaya Gazeta opposition newspaper put Putin's close friend at the top of an offshore empire worth more than $2 billion that has made his circle fabulously wealthy. The Kremlin spokesman, who himself figures in the leaked documents, said there was "nothing new or concrete" about the Russian leader in the leaks, but blamed them on a mood of rampant "Putinophobia."

A network of secret offshore deals and vast loans worth $2bn has laid a trail to Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. An unprecedented leak of documents shows how this money has made members of Putin’s close circle fabulously wealthy. Though the president’s name does not appear in any of the records, the data reveals a pattern...The documents suggest Putin’s family has benefited from this money – his friends’ fortunes appear his to spend….. The Panama Papers disclose that Kovalchuk and Bank Rossiya achieved the transfer of at least $1bn to a specially created offshore entity called Sandalwood Continental. These funds came...

A storm is coming By Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer The interrogation room in which Iceland’s recent history was rewritten is sparse, furnished only with a table, some chairs, and a computer. A camera is fixed to the wall, and the frosted, double-glazed windows have completely blocked out the sound of the gale-force winds in Reykjavik’s Faxafloi Bay. It was in this room that some of Iceland’s most powerful bankers, executives, and investors had to answer to special investigator Olaf Hauksson. A tall man with a heavy build, Haukkson has spent the past six years investigating the transactions that brought...

Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption Millions of documents show heads of state, criminals and celebrities using secret hideaways in tax havens Files reveal the offshore holdings of 140 politicians and public officials from around the world â—¾Current and former world leaders in the data include prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia â—¾More than 214,000 offshore entities appear in the leak, connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories â—¾Major banks have driven the creation of hard-to-trace companies in offshore havens...

It’s being called the “Panama Papers” — a trove of 11.5 million leaked internal documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, showing how hundreds of thousands of people with money to hide used anonymous shell corporations across the world. Fusion’s investigative unit was one of the more than 100 media organizations that dove into the files — and found drug dealers, arms traders, human traffickers, fraudsters. We also found no shortage of politicians or their family members. Here is a listing of current and former world leaders connected to the files. Check out Dirty Little Secrets, Fusion’s full investigation...

A huge leak of confidential documents has revealed how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth. Eleven million documents were leaked from one of the world's most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. They show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax. The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing. The documents show links to 72 current or former heads of state in the data, including dictators accused of looting their own countries. Gerard Ryle, director of the...

The German government on Monday said it hoped the revelations from the so-called “Panama Papers” will spur global efforts to combat tax evasion and money laundering. “We hope the current debate will turn up the heat,” finance ministry spokesman Martin Jäger told a news briefing. […] The Panama Papers are a massive leak of 11.5 million documents allegedly exposing the secret offshore dealings of a host of world leaders, celebrities and sports stars, implicating figures from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Barcelona striker Lionel Messi. […] The documents, from around 214,000 offshore entities covering almost 40 years, came from Mossack...

Skittish banks have been closing what they consider high-risk accounts, many of them held by money transfer firms and humanitarian organizations, prompting the U.S. Government Accountability Office to open an investigation, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday. This week, the Journal detailed how such organizations have been forced out of the global banking system. More than 50 nonprofits sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Secretary of State John Kerry accusing banks and the Treasury of playing the blame game and doing little to solve the problem. They want the U.S. Treasury to state nonprofits aren’t inherently high-risk....

Sergei Roldugin is Russian President Vladimir Putin's closest friend. They met when Putin was training to become a KGB officer at school, where Roldugin's brother was one of Putin's classmates. Roldugin introduced Putin to his future wife, Lyudmila, and the couple made him the godfather of their eldest daughter in 1985. ...Roldugin is not the only friend and confidant of Putin's mentioned in the Panama Papers. The reports mention Putin’s judo sparring partners, the wives of Putin’s spokesman and a governor, sons of economy and deputy interior ministers,...