Posted on 04/03/2016 4:58:22 PM PDT by fision
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
◾Current and former world leaders in the data include prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia
◾More than 214,000 offshore entities appear in the leak, connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories
◾Major banks have driven the creation of hard-to-trace companies in offshore havens
A massive leak of documents exposes the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and reveals how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies.
The leak also provides details of the hidden financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials around the world.
The cache of 11.5 million records shows how a global industry of law firms and big banks sells financial secrecy to politicians, fraudsters and drug traffickers as well as billionaires, celebrities and sports stars.
These are among the findings of a yearlong investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other news organizations.
The files expose offshore companies controlled by the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the king of Saudi Arabia and the children of the president of Azerbaijan.
They also include at least 33 people and companies blacklisted by the U.S. government because of evidence that they’d been involved in wrongdoing, such as doing business with Mexican drug lords, terrorist organizations like Hezbollah or rogue nations like North Korea and Iran.
One of those companies supplied fuel for the aircraft that the Syrian government used to bomb and kill thousands of its own citizens, U.S. authorities have charged.
“These findings show how deeply ingrained harmful practices and criminality are in the offshore world,” said Gabriel Zucman, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley and author of “The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens.” Zucman, who was briefed on the media partners’ investigation, said the release of the leaked documents should prompt governments to seek “concrete sanctions” against jurisdictions and institutions that peddle offshore secrecy.
9This is a very comprehensive report Go to read the whole thing)
Speaking of pollution....
i’d bet $50 no soros, clinton, or 0bama details were exposed.
No kidding, just being in politics these days demands corruption for the most part.
this will fell politicians, actors , media heads
good, good.
Tip of the iceberg
It’s so huge that the information was released on a weekend so it wouldn’t seem so huge.
Seems to me this is just big and oppressive governments holding up a mirror, pointing the finger and saying, “look at all these bad guys.”
If third world hellholes did not exist to enrich their rulers, if first world governments did not seek to regulate every part of every citizen and business’s lives, there would be no need for hyper-secrecy.
I’m sure there will be some actual bad criminality exposed. But most of it will be the routine result of people reacting to bad government. Why the horror over people acting rationally in an insane world?
huh, Putin mentioned....
Hey, this is going into probs for the current Panama gov’t too (and India, Ukraine...) —any new rumors SAJ? anyone?
Good general hypocrisy on all sides, here. Sort of amusing, but doubtless you and I will still have to fill out all the forms in the free world to show that we don't have 10K on deposit anywhere in Panama, no?
I believe I'll play a bit of trivia tonight; the hotel I'm staying at has a game (with $5.00 pitchers of Bud), so it shouldn't be an entire loss.
Yours for staying under the radar,
Stu
Me & the wife were chatting about this, that the Panama gov't intentionally makes it harder on us so we "think" they care about money laundering. My bet is Putin didn't have to fill out anything for his Panama account. Kind of like O making the budget fuss as hard as possible --even when it cost more money from the treasury.
I'm sure Hillary Clinton has to DREAD this because if they find ties between Mossack Fonseca and the Clinton Foundation, her political career could be over.
That's why I like Trump. Trump embraces his wealth and makes no damned apologies. Too bad the PM didn't have the “cajonas” to look the guy in the eye and say, “Yes, I am richer than you and I am damned proud of it.”
Problem is the Iceland PM’s in the Progressive Party and leftists (w/ the exception of the Clintons, Kennedys, etc.) are supposed to be anti-wealth.
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