Hedge Fund Sues Mossack Fonseca
For Alleged Obstruction of Justice in Nevada
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Pakistan’s PM Responds to Supreme Court Hearing on Panama Papers
Nawaz Sharif defended himself as the nation’s highest court convened
a commission to investigate, a move celebrated by opposition supporters.
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BVI Hits Mossack Fonseca With Largest Fine Ever
After Panama Papers Investigation
The British Virgin Islands has hit law firm Mossack Fonseca with the biggest fine
in the territory’s history following an investigation into Panama Papers revelations.
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Panama Papers Have Had Historic Global Effects
— and the Impacts Keep Coming
The investigation has produced an almost daily drumbeat
of regulatory moves, follow-up stories and calls by politicians and
activists for more action to combat offshore financial secrecy.
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Journalists Hang Tough in Face of Backlash
Against Panama Papers Reporting
Reporters have faced consequences both in nations
where media crackdowns are common and also in nations
with reputations for high levels of press freedom.
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Panama’s Revolving Door Shows
Global Challenge of Offshore Reform
In a country where top-drawer lawyers move freely between government posts
and offshore law firms, bringing lasting change to Panama’s offshore industry
remains a challenge despite the spotlight cast by the Panama Papers.
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Tax Agencies Draw Up ‘Target List’ of Offshore Enablers
Tax agencies from 30 countries convened in Paris this week to take part in the largest ever simultaneous exchange of tax information and to share results and details on thousands of investigations sparked by the Panama Papers.
The tax agencies in attendance have reportedly audited more than 1,700 taxpayers, have made more than 2,550 requests for information and have identified a “target list” of 100 intermediaries – lawyers, bankers, accountants and others who help wealthy individuals and companies set up and use tax havens – for further investigation. “Large numbers of taxpayers” had also come forward voluntarily to come clean on their offshore assets, JITSIC announced.
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Founders of Panama Papers Law Firm
Arrested on Money Laundering Charges
The firm’s founding partners, Ramón Fonseca and Jürgen Mossack, were taken into police custody on Thursday, according to the men’s lawyer. Kenia Porcell, Panama’s attorney general, released a statement that said evidence gathered by her office indicated that the law firm was a potential “criminal organization” that concealed and removed evidence related to “illegal activity.”
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Panama Papers Wins Pulitzer Prize
Columbia University announced today that the Panama Papers investigation
has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.
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Thank you for all the updates, Clint.
It’s the scandal that keeps on giving.
Here is a brief excerpt from this article –
"Although many of the methods of evading tax detailed in the Panama Papers were legal, their use has since been widely condemned in the court of public opinion.
“University of Leeds Professor of Tax Law Rita de la Feria says the Panama Papers has changed public sentiment towards taxation itself – and a failure to pay a fair share of tax is no longer considered a victimless crime.”
My comments –
Legal ways of avoiding tax are not “methods of evading tax”. Shame on the ICIJ for conflating avoidance with evasion.
Furthermore, “a fair share of tax” is not an amount defined by Professor de la Feria, or by “public sentiment”. It is an amount defined by the tax laws of one’s country. Which brings us back to the distinction between avoidance and evasion.
Tax avoidance is the proper use of the tax laws to prevent paying more than the law requires.
Tax evasion is the illegal failure to pay what the law requires.
These are two very different things.
Finally, let me round out this rant by commenting on “money laudering”, as most governments would have you understand that term. In practice, most governments operate as if money laundering is any movement of money which the government does not detect and cannot track. By that definition, I engage in money laundering whenever I can – not because my activities are illegal, but because they are none of the government’s damn business.
The ICIJ’s Panama Papers investigation has exposed some scoundrels engaged in illegal activities, for sure. But, the assumption which they apparently share with many governments – that any financial transaction not open to public scrutiny is somehow illicit – is a dangerous assumption, which threatens individual freedom and privacy.
End of rant. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Huh. Haven’t even heard of that Laundromat. Good thing it’s coming out soon!