Paradise papers- Overlapping worlds of political players, private wealth and corporate giants
It's called the Paradise Papers: the latest in a series of leaks made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists shedding light on the trillions of dollars that move through offshore tax havens. The core of the leak, totaling more than 13.4 million documents, focuses on the Bermudan law firm Appleby, a 119-year old company that caters to blue chip corporations and very wealthy people. Appleby helps clients reduce their tax burden; obscure their ownership of assets like companies, private aircraft, real estate and yachts; and set up huge offshore trusts that in some cases hold billions of dollars. (nytimes.com)
The leaked documents dubbed the Paradise Papers, show how deeply the offshore financial system is entangled with the overlapping worlds of political players, private wealth and corporate giants, including Apple, Nike, Uber and other global companies that avoid taxes through increasingly imaginative bookkeeping manoeuvres. Paradise Papers Exposes Donald Trump-Russia links and Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent - ICIJ
Safe Havens and support structures
In addition to its Bermudan headquarters, it works out of places like the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean; the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey off Britain; Mauritius and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean; and Hong Kong and Shanghai. Paradise Papers Shine Light on Where the Elite Hide Their Money
A bank in Utah is in the business of helping wealthy foreigners register private planes in the United States, which requires American citizenship or residency. The offshore files shed light on how a small financial institution, the Bank of Utah, served as a stand-in for citizenship purposes to allow Russia's richest man, Leonid Mikhelson, whose energy company is subject to sanctions, register a $65 million Gulfstream jet.(nytimes.com)
Asiaciti connection
The documents come not only from Appleby, but also from the Singaporean company Asiaciti Trust and official business registries in places such as Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Lebanon and Malta. Paradise Papers Shine Light on Where the Elite Hide Their Money
In contrast to Appleby's public image, the files reveal a company that has provided services to risky clients from Iran, Russia and Libya, failed government audits that identified gaps in anti-money-laundering procedures and been fined in secret by the Bermuda financial regulator. Paradise Papers Exposes Donald Trump-Russia links and Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent - ICIJ
The firm was founded Bermuda and has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands and other offshore centres. Paradise Papers Exposes Donald Trump-Russia links and Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent - ICIJ
Some of the world's biggest multinationals feature in the leak, including Apple, Nike and Facebook, as well as some of the richest people in the world, from the Queen to Bono, and from the stars of British sitcoms to the stars who grace Hollywood Boulevard. What are the Paradise Papers and what do they tell us?
Discussing Ross' Paradise Papers file with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, reporter Jon Swaine of The Guardian said Ross' investments link him to Navigator — which is in turn linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin's son-in-law. The Paradise Papers: Revelations Spring From Leaked Records Of World's Wealthy
The Paradise Papers revealed that Queen Elizabeth II held investments in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda via the Duchy of Lancaster [1] Paradise Papers
According to the papers, Facebook, Apple, Uber, Nike, Walmart, Allianz, Siemens, McDonald's, and Yahoo! are among the corporations that own offshore companies, [12] [13] as well as Allergan, the manufacturer of Botox. Paradise Papers
Real apple
Apple has come under scrutiny by Congress for shifting much of its earnings to Irish subsidiaries, avoiding income taxes. Documents from the leak show that after its chief executive, Tim Cook, said that the company didn't just "stash money on a Caribbean island," it found a new tax haven — an island in the English Channel. The use of complex offshore structures have helped keep much of Apple's more than $128 billion in profit abroad free from taxation. The technique isn't unique to Apple. "U.S. multinational firms are the global grandmasters of tax avoidance schemes," said Edward Kleinbard, a former corporate tax adviser to such companies. (nytimes.com)
Global impact
The Panama papers took many down in the world of the wealthy. Some are still reeling under the fallout. This new wave of investigative journalism is going to help unearth many more cheats roaming around the world in private jets, pretending to be clean businessmen. Journalists will continue to go after them and continue to catch them. But it is still governements of countries that will have to prosecute them and until they stay corrupt, not much will come out of it. It is a fight against the corrupt white collar that has taken advantage of capitalism, that was supposed to create a fair system of distribution of wealth.