Leaks reveal secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Last edited Thu Apr 4, 2013, 05:29 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: The Guardian

Offshore financial industry leak exposes identities of thousands of holders of anonymous wealth from around the world


Millions of internal records have leaked from Britain's offshore financial industry, exposing for the first time the identities of thousands of holders of anonymous wealth from around the world, from presidents to plutocrats, the daughter of a notorious dictator and a British millionaire accused of concealing assets from his ex-wife.

The leak of 2m emails and other documents, mainly from the offshore haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), has the potential to cause a seismic shock worldwide to the booming offshore trade, with a former chief economist at McKinsey estimating that wealthy individuals may have as much as $32tn (£21tn) stashed in overseas havens.

......The names have been unearthed in a novel project by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists [ICIJ], in collaboration with the Guardian and other international media, who are jointly publishing their research results this week.

The naming project may be extremely damaging for confidence among the world's wealthiest people, no longer certain that the size of their fortunes remains hidden from governments and from their neighbours.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/03/offshore-secrets-offshore-tax-haven

---

Much more here:
http://www.icij.org/offshore/secret-files-expose-offshores-global-impact

Given the size of the leak, its going to take a long time to sift through, but its already having huge repercussions!

Edited: Guardian changed the story title to "Leaks reveal secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore" from "Identities of the rich who hide cash offshore"

[L0oniX]

1. Seize their funds!

[Flatulo]

54. How? Do you think those off-shore havens are actually

anywhere near fully capitalized? I wouldn't be surprised if they're leveraged 100:1.

[Ruby the Liberal]

59. My first thought.

Even better though - just delete them.

[RKP5637]

64. K&R !!! Delete them !!! It's all vapor anyway, like a hot baloon soaring into the air! n/t

[yurbud]

73. donate it all to a worthy cause--like paying off all student loans or

use it to buy up and then dissolve the worst sociopathic Wall St. banks, and so on.

[RKP5637]

77. Excellent! n/t

[Berlum]

76. Delete

[closeupready]

2. Wow. That's astonishing. This is why Swiss numbered accounts were

so prized - there was no documentation linking an individual to a numbered account. Thus, no proof.

I have a feeling the US media will want to ignore this story, but journalists like the Financial Times' Nicholas Shaxson and those at The Guardian or Al-Jazeera will investigate it fully, I'm sure.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

6. CBC is in on it too, and its already big news in Canada

Senator's husband put $1.7M in offshore tax havens
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2013/04/03/merchant-offshore-trust.html

[MAD Dave]

10. Merchant is a slimy as it comes.

Currently disbarred for conduct unbecoming a lawyer. This is his third time for that. I live in Regina. If you need a ambulance chaser, call Tony!

[JDPriestly]

25. On Huffington Post, I read that there were about 4000 American

names on the list, but we are only seeing the names of people who are notorious and mostly names of people unpopular with the far right.

I would like to see a full list of the names of the Americans.

[corkhead]

44. I wonder if there is anyone on the list with a name that rhymes with "shit robme"

[Duer 157099]

48. "I would like to see a full list of the names of the Americans."

Same here. If you find a link, post it please.

[MADem]

83. US media has covered this story.

CNBC and NY Times: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100619555

ABC and Associated Press: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/tax-haven-data-leak-names-names-raises-questions-18889929#.UWHlGZOG2So

CBS has put the story on its affiliate pages, but it isn't easy to find on the main page, if it is even there--they do have some other tax haven stories in their business section.

Even Faux Snooze has the story--though I won't link to them.

So, they've covered it--the real question is, will they continue to cover it? The son of Rick Warren and Roger Ebert deaths have taken up a good percentage of column inches and airtime in the last few days.

If they stay on this as more names come out, that would be a very good thing, indeed.

[cantbeserious]

3. Hi Ho, Hi Ho It's Of To Serfdom I Go - Seems Others Get A Better Deal

eom

[hrmjustin]

4. Can we send them a tax bill?

[Auntie Bush]

63. Yes! Confess and pay a tax or fine...and we can balance the budget for all time.

[RKP5637]

65. Damn, that would overwhelm TurboTax!

[Brigid]

5. This could be even better than . . .

Pitchforks, torches, and guillotines.

[russspeakeasy]

7. Best news of the day !! Hey, was my name on that list ?

[abelenkpe]

8. ...

[RKP5637]

66. It's gonna take more than one bag, here, have some more!!!

[drm604]

9. K&R

[gtar100]

11. Awesome! These are the real parasites on humanity.

Now if only the tax dodgers who use the Cayman Islands were exposed. Tax havens should be illegal internationally. The rest of us who have to work for a living are supporting these self-serving motherfuckers.

[Swagman]

12. this money will be physically held in US and UK banks

but technically off-shore while ordinary workers get slugged for full tax.

[JDPriestly]

13. Odd how the list of cheats contains the names of people

who were controversial and unpopular with the righties to begin with.

You would expect it to contain the names of people like Romney or some big corporate CEOs. But their names are suspiciously absent from the articles.

Maybe it's just the British point of view of the articles.

[Trillo]

14. "Mellon, now a British national, said, alluding to former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney."

“Not everyone who owns offshores is a crook.”

A bit of irony?

[siligut]

32. Some types of crookery are still legal

Yes, it is ironic.

I can't help but wonder the ways civilization would benefit if psychopaths weren't allowed to hoard the wealth.

[Purplehazed]

15. Hah! Just last week......

Rush Bimbo was saying something to the effect that "those wacko liberals" keep claiming that the rich are able to hide their wealth in off shore tax shelters and he was asking " really, where are they?. Would somebody please just show him where tax dodgers hide there money, blah blah.

Well Mr Bimbo.........here's your sign.

[siligut]

33. That is just propaganda for his ditto-heads

The people who think if they don't know about it, it doesn't exist and if they can't understand it it is magical/a miracle/god's work.

Rush himself has off-shore accounts.

[DeSwiss]

16. K&R

[SunSeeker]

23. Brilliant Darrow quote. Thanks. nt

[RKP5637]

67. Absolutely correct!!! n/t

[yurbud]

79. that's priceless

[Kablooie]

17. Holy crap! 260 GIGABYTES of data

and it's all TEXT!

Now THAT'S a data cache! Whew!

[bemildred]

58. A gift that will keep giving for a long time.

[Coyotl]

18. Rich!

[Left Coast2020]

19. What? rMoney didn't make the list?

I got all excited to who was on it. Betcha Mr. 47% pukeface is on it.

[defacto7]

20. Kick....

[The Wizard]

21. The ill gotten Cheney assets

are in Dubai

[PSPS]

22. I'll bet Romney is on the list.

[Canuckistanian]

24. Top of the news reports in Canada

Although I can guess where it will end up in American media.....

[Live and Learn]

26. Finally. Keep those leaks a coming. nt

[dipsydoodle]

27. The president of Azerbaijan and his family & Huffpo link.

Not in the least bit surprised to see them on the list.

Huffpo link here :

The secret records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists lay bare the names behind covert companies and private trusts in the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and other offshore hideaways.

They include American doctors and dentists and middle-class Greek villagers as well as families and associates of long-time despots, Wall Street swindlers, Eastern European and Indonesian billionaires, Russian corporate executives, international arms dealers and a sham-director-fronted company that the European Union has labeled as a cog in Iran’s nuclear-development program.

The leaked files provide facts and figures — cash transfers, incorporation dates, links between companies and individuals — that illustrate how offshore financial secrecy has spread aggressively around the globe, allowing the wealthy and the well-connected to dodge taxes and fueling corruption and economic woes in rich and poor nations alike. The records detail the offshore holdings of people and companies in more than 170 countries and territories.

>

ICIJ’s 15-month investigation found that, alongside perfectly legal transactions, the secrecy and lax oversight offered by the offshore world allows fraud, tax dodging and political corruption to thrive.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/offshore-companies-politicians_n_3008426.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[theHandpuppet]

28. 'bout damn time!

Looking forward to reading the list of these weasels.

[Newest Reality]

29. Okay,

so politically, what impact can we make this have? Economically, what changes can we incite?

We are being plunged into austerity, which actually makes no economic sense. The poor are being vilified and those with disability's and Seniors are fretting over their futures. Most of us are hurting in increasing amounts, (with no end in sight) while we swim in thick muck of deceptive propaganda and obvious manipulation.

Not much of the lines we are fed hold-up as well, if at all, when it becomes clear just how much we all pay for the sequestered, obese and protected wealth of a few.

The essential question becomes, how much tax liability are we talking in total? How much money has been pulled out and what would have been the result if the funds had provided revenue to our common needs and collective issues? After all, we collectively provide the commons, the infrastructure, that we regular folk pay dearly for and can't even afford to keep in good repair anymore. We pay, they flee and play?

In retrospect, just how much better would our lives and times be if the revenue had been paid fairly back into the system that spawned these crafty night flyers who are so rich they would to live for ages to be able to spend it all?

Are we to assume that the politicians inside this system and the media priests, (or anyone who has a large income and extensive holdings) are not insiders to the "special" financial structures that they use to take from us and squirrel away without having to incur any liability that even comes close to a fair share? The debates on how much the "obvious" money should be taxed are a huge and tragic joke on the rest of us and a series of slaps in the face of the kind that come from an abuser.

Really, tell me this is not known by those in the know. Tell me that the politicians and corporate Lords and media minions have been reading the news on this and wondering how such a thing could happen. I would have some real estate in Stockholm to sell to anyone who might want to nurture such a fantasy.

Some people follow the money and already have some idea about this scheme and the double-standard. However, now it is an in-your-face revelation that has sweeping implications about our financial policies and how the pie is being sliced. Our sliver is obviously a grand illusion and merely a matter of prestidigitation by the cunning.

If this does not provoke a transformation and an insistence on change with a focus on criminal form of distribution of wealth, then most of what we hear and see about who's arguing on which side is all nothing more than a game designed to keep us complacent and in a state of ignorance.

Now, being frustrated fools dancing in the dark is by choice. Fooled again? We'll see.

[muriel_volestrangler]

30. Including Augier, the former French Socialist Party treasurer

Mentioned in the Guardian article, and it's causing Hollande problems:

A financial scandal is threatening French President Francois Hollande, after it emerged that his former Socialist Party treasurer invested in two Cayman Islands offshore companies.

Jean-Jacques Augier, who managed Mr Hollande's campaign funds, told the daily Le Monde that there was "nothing illegal" in his tax haven affairs.
...
On Wednesday President Hollande addressed the scandal on national television, saying that in future all ministers and MPs would have to declare fully their personal finances.

But the media is already questioning whether that is enough, the BBC's Christian Fraser reports from Paris.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22027376

[dipsydoodle]

34. The degree of separation here

will be between those who used tax avoidance schemes, due to lax taxation laws of their own relevant countries, and those who illegally evaded tax.

Be interesting to see who's who.

[oldhippie]

50. But how will we, the general public ...

... know who in which group? How will we know what names on the lists were following every disclosure requirement and dutifully paid their taxes on the offshore income? And don't say that nobody does that, because I know for a fact that some do. (Me.) Or will the general public (wrongly) think that everyone on a list of people with an account in a tax haven is trying to avoid taxes, legally or illegally? I may be on that list, and I don't like being lumped in with the cheats and criminals.

Unlike most here, I believe you are financially sophisticated enough to realize that there are reasons to have offshore accounts other than to hide money and avoid taxes.

[dipsydoodle]

57. which group ?

You most likely will never know other than where charges are brought. I'm guessing there may be a number of behind closed door side deals done here. In the UK an amnesty was declared with regard to Channel Island accounts and those who put their hands up simply allowed to settle. The main benefit of "offshore income" is that interest which is paid gross. Not sure what the situation is the US : in the UK interest has to be paid by banks net of tax at the standard rate of 20%. Our banks issue certificates of tax paid which is then deducted by the individual their marginal rate when the return is filed - they then pay the balance to our HMRC. Not sure how companies treat it.

This explains general aspects with regard offshore stuff including perfectly legal reasons why some use them as per your last para.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_bank

[muriel_volestrangler]

31. Today's new names include the PM of Georgia

The latest cluster of names to emerge from the massive leak of BVI financial data include Bidzina Ivanishvili, prime minister of the central Asian country since last year, and prominent figures in Pakistan, India, Thailand and Indonesia. They also include a Briton, Neil Gaitely, nominally a director of a company reported to be a front for the Iranian regime.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/apr/04/offshore-secrets

[reflection]

35. Aside from the good information you've provided,

I am going to rec this for the 'Joe Shlabotnik' reference. Thank you.

[santamargarita]

36. More popcorn...

[1Independent]

37. Offshore Accounts

This article should be the top headline!

This is huge--------- It might explain a great deal of reasons for international monetary problems.

Mitt Romney did not want his offshore tax-evading accounts exposed.....he had everything to hide. And, the Party of Stupids wanted the crook for President!

These offshore accounts may be the biggest leak since Wikileak was created....There is a difference between exposing national security secrets and exposing crooks......the former should be punished, the latter should be praised.

[Evasporque]

38. Meh....Republicans will discount this..offshore money hiding/laundering is "good for business"...nt

[marshall]

39. How many of them are our elected officials?

Probably more than we care to guess about.

[joanbarnes]

40. Can't wait to hear about this in the lamestream media.........

[primavera]

41. The annual GDP of the entire US is only $15 trillion - n/t

[xtraxritical]

42. This must hurt Julian Assange.

[Duer 157099]

51. Why?

[Fantastic Anarchist]

43. 32 Trillion.

Remember that number.

[Theyletmeeatcake2]

75. Hope that they

choke on that money.Remember that this isn't their cleaned up money either.They disgust me

[WillyT]

45. K & R !!!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

46. Keep in mind the entire Republican argument is the rich can't afford to hire,...

...or give pay raises because times are tough.

I'd like to see how many journalists are on that list, especially the ones that cover business news.

[JNelson6563]

47. This is great!

[allan01]

49. re:Identities of the rich who hide cash offshore

dont rock the boat !!!! sometimes the damn boat needs rockin : ) ill and i have a feeling this will

[steve2470]

52. k&r nt

[Initech]

53. Petty offenders get locked up at the drop of a hat. These criminals walk free.

And live in obscene luxury at that. Yet this practice is actually encouraged by our "representatives". Where's the justice??

[RKP5637]

68. And we lock away the kid with a little pot as a huge criminal with evil intent against the world as

ever so dangerous. Justice flew out the window with democracies.

[Initech]

70. Yup - our prison system is responsible for turning the locked up kid into a violent killer.

Under the guise of "white supremacy". And then the real criminals responsible for the creation of this hell hole are profiting handsomely off it, and using the money to buy politicians and judges to pass laws to fill their hell holes. They are the real terrorists in our society.

[ReRe]

72. "We hang the petty thieves,

and appoint the great ones to public office." ~~Aesop

[yurbud]

78. it's comforting to see how far we've progressed in a few thousand years

[ReRe]

81. Seriously...

...and we call ourselves "civilized." That old adage is as true as it ever was "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

[antigop]

55. k&r nt

[harun]

56. Vampires

[riverbendviewgal]

60. HA! there are 450 Canadians on this list..

I love it that the curtain is open on them...



http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/04/03/canadian_senator_pana_merchants_lawyer_husband_stashed_17_million_offshore_cbc_says.html


Canadian Senator Pana Merchant’s lawyer husband stashed $1.7 million offshore, CBC says
450 Canadians have money stashed in offshore accounts, including lawyer Tony Merchant, CBC says

[24601]

61. The more interesting information will be who is on the list while calling for higher taxes for

everyone else? The hypocrisy factor will be bigger news than an avowed capitalist trying to make money.

[tclambert]

62. Let the Sun Shine In

[grasswire]

69. this is how we-the-people level the playing field

Now if Obama's justice department would take some of this seriously.....

[yurbud]

74. if any of the money is stolen from Goldman Sachs, they'll get right on it

[freshwest]

71. K&R

[yurbud]

80. secrecy and deceit are tools of the financial elite that are on their deathbeds

Baby Bush destroyed one of their key deceits, that the wealthy are somehow smarter, harder working, and more responsible than the rest of us and si deserve their wealth.

Without inherited wealth, no one would trust him to be Wal-mart greeter.

[mwooldri]

82. Three Words: British Crown Dependencies.

To elaborate further - these offshore "tax havens" tend to be Crown dependencies - the last remnants of British Empire if you will - and this money does come in and out of London. They are not part of the European Union, have their own elected governments and leaders. They decide the tax rates. Those dependencies closer to America tie their currency with the US dollar, closer to Europe - it's tied with UK Sterling (pounds).

This information can be useful to governments everywhere - they can focus on the wealthy who are evading taxes.