Standing on Shaky Ground
An anonymous person has leaked more than 11 million documents documenting how the rich and powerful hide their money in offshore tax havens. The documents were published Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Süddeutsche Zeitung, the German newspaper, and several news organizations around the world, including the BBC, after a yearlong investigation. The actions described in the documents are not necessarily illegal, but some of the documents reveal a clandestine web of shell companies, their real owners concealed under layers of secrecy, and connections to firms in different tax havens. A coalition of more than 100 news organizations published a review of the documents yesterday. USA Today describes the treasure trove,
The cache exposes assets of everyone from political officials to billionaires to celebrities to sports stars that were previously undisclosed. The documents expose holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and details of the hidden financial dealings of 128 more politicians and public officials worldwide. Included: At least 33 people and companies blacklisted by the U.S. government because of links to wrongdoing, such as doing business with Mexican drug lords, terrorist groups or rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran. According to Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the Munich-based newspaper that obtained the trove of documents more than a year ago from an anonymous source tied to Mossack Fonseca [a law firm in Panama with 40 offices around the world], the “Panama Papers” include approximately 11.5 million documents — more than the combined total of the Wikileaks Cablegate, Offshore Leaks, Lux Leaks and Swiss Leaks.
The leak of documents shows how the rich and famous can exploit offshore tax shelters and reveals an unprecedented pattern of corruption worldwide for 40 years, including maneuvers by major banks who created the hard-to-trace companies. World leaders or associates who have embraced anti-corruption platforms are featured throughout. The papers also allege a billion-dollar money laundering ring run by a Russian bank tied to associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Difficult at this point to determine who violated any laws. Tax avoidance is a lawful standard-operating procedure for the rich. Tax evasion, however, and money laundering are crimes. The use of multiple transactions by shell companies that consist of little more than a name and a P.O. box, together with nominee owners who conceal the real parties in interest is inherently suspicious. Mossack Fonseca, the Panama law firm, specializes in creating opaque financial transactions involving equally opaque offshore banks.
Sorting through it all is going to take some time.
I WONDER how many of your readers know who the Temptations are, professor?
Unless they’re really young, who hasn’t heard of the Temptations? They wrote the song, Shaky Ground.
I think I know what you’re getting at. Shame to be ignorant. Never too late to discover and listen to great music.
Check this out. It’s cool.
The Panama Papers, explained in a short, simple story about piggy banks
Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned a shell company named Wintris that purchased bonds issued by the three Icelandic banks. When the banks went belly-up during the 2008 financial collapse, Wintris was listed as a bankruptcy creditor.
At some point, Gunnlauggson transferred his interest in Wintris to his wife for $1.
He was elected Prime Minister, as a member of the right wing party that promised to clean-up banking corruption without disclosing his interest and his wife’s interest in Wintris, which is substantial.
When the proverbial brown substance hit the fan with the Panama Papers disclosure of their connection to Wintris, he resigned temporarily (whatever that means) and is awaiting a decision regarding whether to hold a new national election.
The liberal left wing Pirate’s Party is poised to pounce.
What a great name for a political party!
BIG NEWS!!!!!!!!!
CNN is reporting
Iceland Prime Minister Gunnlaugsson resigns amid Panama Papers fallout
Hopefully more to come. This has turned out to be huge wow! I want to see what who will come out of the American companies I know Halliburton is one (Cheney in charge),
There are few things in the physical dimension of space-time that would make me happier than to discover that Dick Cheney was indicted for financial crimes. He makes my skin crawl.
Cheney, Cruz and Trump, Kasich all make my skin crawl.
From commondreams.org
TENS OF THOUSANDS of protestors have descended on Reykjavic today hurling yoghurts, eggs and bananas at the Icelandic parliament in a furious demanding for the country’s beleaguered Prime Minister to quit.
Yogurts? They are hurling YOGURTS??? OMG. Where do I live? What’s the fare to get to Iceland, where they hurl yogurt!?
Rachel Maddow mentioned on her show last night that American names have not yet been released from this dump, but just a matter of time. I can hardly wait!
Where are all the Americans in the Panama Papers?
Brought to you by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
Play the exciting new game, Stairway to Tax Heaven
Welcome to the secret world of offshore. Your goal is to navigate this parallel universe and hide your cash away. Don’t worry! Lawyers, wealth managers and bankers are there to help you.
Pick a character and don’t get caught.
From The Intercept: Icelandic humor, beginning with the journalist giving PM Gunnlaugsson an opportunity to hang himself.
**Wintris is a company registered in the British Virgin Islands that had bonds in three Icelandic banks that collapsed in 2008.
From the pictures of him that I saw, his arrogance seems to be intact.
Iceland PM walks out of interview when confronted
Iceland’s prime minister walks out of interview over tax haven question
It seems as if lawmakers often want to get in on these schemes.. just look at how they seem to “cash out” from “public service”… and so they will not lift a finger to stop this sort of thing. Unless there is a law proscribing something… it is easy peasy to just create A, B or C which avoids existing law. It’s lawyers who work for banks and financial “institutions” who create these “instruments” and vehicles to skirt the existing law.
Panama may well be the most opaque nation in the world.
Great place to money launder.
Make no mistake. This scandal is Yuuuge.
Here’s an article about the Prime Minister of Iceland, who is ensnared in the scandal.
Iceland PM calls for dissolution of parliament after tax scandal
I’m hearing the US citizens involved have not been named yet but the identities of these people will be revealed soon, US VP Cheney is highly likely to be on this list…we will see. Maybe he will finally be charged with a crime although he still should have been charged with war crimes.
Love to see Cheney charged, and others.
Evidently using fictitious companies in big business is now vary common. I discovered that in this massive mortgage fraud we’re dealing with the Trust that Deutsche Bank / Ocwen loan servicing claim our mortgage was pooled into actually does not exist.
According to the SEC, when this fraud was in it’s heyday they simply whipped a name out of thin air when they needed to. The attorney form them admitted to our new attorney that the Pooling and Servicing Agreement does not exist.
If the PSA does not exist, then the Trust cannot exist…….hence the mortgages disappeared into cyber-space.
Gee………..if I tried that, I’d be in a federal prison.
The lack of regulation of our financial systems is astounding we have not learned from the past.
Dodd-Frank isn’t strong enough.
Glass-Stegall will fix the problem…. Never should have been done away with.
We can thank Bill Clinton for signing instead of vetoing the bill that repealed Glass-Steagall.
Yep. We have a double standard: criminal laws for the poor; none for the rich
Prof……….you would never believe what we have uncovered in the last few months or so. We fired our attorney and hired a new one. Since it seems they all know each other around here and evidently are in cahoots, we hired a guy from 100 miles away who has beaten these shysters badly. (see Kemps vs Countrywide)
It looks like our old attorney was getting some backdoor money from Deutsche Bank / Ocwen since both lawyers agreed to a mutual dismissal of their Complaint and our Counter Complaint to which my wife and I had no idea. Since Ocwen / D.B. were 15 months in default as to answering ours, and I kept telling him to file a Default along with a Summary Judgement Motion, why would he fail to do so.
It looks like their guy was telling our guy they would prevail since the bank is to big to fail and all that. For the last 3 months our guy kept telling us to take another BS Modification. One that was $500.00 + more a month and for 40 years !!
They can’t can’t produce a single legal document due to the forgery and a backdated, by 30 months, bogus Assignment.
Then their guy call our new attorney and when our guy was asking questions, their guy stated flat out there is no Pooling & Service Agreement, which means there cannot possibly be a mortgage since if there is no PSA, there is no Trust to have any of them pooled into.
I spoke with a guy at the SEC last year who stated flat out the mortgage fraud that started years ago is now rearing it’s ugly head and it was only a matter of time.
Don’t count on the govt for help however, no matter what they say.
It should get interesting.
Your lawyer had a conflict of interest, which is a kind description of a bribe. Probably worth bitchin’ him to the bar association, even though bar associations have been known to look after their own.
I’ve kind of been following this litigation from afar and it has always seemed to me that the R/E properties are immune from forfeiture because the lenders didn’t comply with the recording requirements for the mortgages. The absence of a pooling and service agreement eliminates the only argument they have, albeit a weak one.
Seems like you’ve got a slam dunk, as a matter of law.
But the corruption factor is Yuuge. Difficult to overestimate its importance and you’re right about the government. Seems like it often functions like a coconspirator on the side of the banks.
Poisonous snakes everywhere.
Good luck. Keep us informed.