Law Firm’s Files Include Dozens of Companies and People
Blacklisted by U.S. Authorities
In this story
• 33 companies and people blacklisted by the U.S. government appear in Mossack Fonseca’s files
• Alleged terrorism and nuclear weapons financiers from the Middle East and North Korea, arms traders and backers of Syria’s barrel bombings found in files
• Mossack Fonseca employees repeatedly acknowledged failing to properly check blacklisted customers
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Of course terrorists-related companies are involved in this mess. It would have been surprising if they weren’t. The whole mess is probably only set to expand even further.
Spies and Shadowy Allies Lurk in Secret With Help From Offshore Firm
In this story
• Spy chiefs, secret agents and alleged CIA contractors among those to use offshore companies
• Secret agents used offshore companies to, among other things, own golf courses
• Octopüssy, Goldfinger, SkyFall, GoldenEye, Moonraker among offshore company names used by Mossack Fonseca
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Leaked Files Offer Many Clues To Offshore Dealings by Top Chinese
In this story
• Relatives of at least eight members of the top leadership of China’s Communist Party have offshore holdings
• So do China’s super wealthy business executives and kung fu star Jackie Chan
• Offshore companies incorporated in offices in China and Hong Kong account for 29 percent of Mossack Fonseca’s active companies worldwide
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The Art of Secrecy
In this story
• Panama Papers provides unprecedented look at connection between international art trade and offshore secrecy
• Billionaire art dealers use offshore company to shield painting allegedly looted by Nazis
• Identity revealed of the man secretly behind the 20th century’s most important modern art auction
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If you are a newcomer to this Panama Papers scandal, this short video will give you an overview —
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In my honest opinion, I hope this investigation goes somewhere but, I doubt that it will. What do you guys think?
I share your hope, and I partially share your doubt.
[B]On the positive side — [/B]
There is a lot of anger among the general citizenry of many countries, directed toward people and companies seen as evading taxes and/or laundering dirty money. Australia is one of those countries where the anger is intense.
Here’s a VIDEO of a recent Australian Broadcasting Corp. television program called [I]Four Corners[/I] (kind of like the PBS program [I]Frontline[/I] in the U.S.) which you might want to watch. It will probably reinforce the hope you referred to.
[B]On the negative side —[/B]
Regarding your doubt that anything will actually come of all this —
There is very good reason to question who is actually behind these leaked revelations, and what their hidden agenda might be.
Specifically, the two most prominent organizations involved in receiving, decrypting, sorting, and releasing the data hacked from Mossack Fonseca are [I]The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists[/I] (whose articles I have been posting in this thread), and the [I]Süddeutsche Zeitung[/I] (South German Newspaper). Both of these organizations have highly suspicious backers, funders, and/or affiliates. Red flags are raised.
More on this in a future post.
Also, only a tiny percentage of the total 2.6 terabytes of hacked data (11.5 million documents) has been made public, and the flow of new releases has slowed to a trickle. What are we to make of that?
Stay tuned.
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Coming Soon: ICIJ to Release Panama Papers Offshore Companies Data
Excerpt:
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists will release on May 9 a searchable database with information on more than 200,000 offshore entities that are part of the Panama Papers investigation.
The database will likely be the largest ever release of secret offshore companies and the people behind them.
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