Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
xEmbed
xShare
Gerard Ryle, Director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, tells USA TODAY how the Panama Papers came to be. USA TODAY
The offices of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca in Panama City on April 3, 2016. Hundreds of companies registered in Nevada list "officers" that are actually companies sharing the same address as this building.(Photo: AP)
A USA TODAY analysis of more than 1,000 American-based<span style="color: Red;">*</span>companies registered by Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers leak, casts the United States openly into an uncomfortable role: an offshore haven of corporate secrecy for wealthy business operations across the globe.
The analysis<span style="color: Red;">*</span>found that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>both Nevada and Wyoming have become secretive havens much like Bermuda and Switzerland have long been.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>And at least 150 companies set up<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by Mossack Fonseca in those states have ties to major corruption scandals in Brazil and Argentina.
The corporate records of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>1,000-plus Nevada<span style="color: Red;">*</span>business entities linked<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to the Panamanian law firm reveal layers of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>secretive ownership, with few having humans' names behind them, and most tracing back to a tiny number of overseas addresses from Bangkok high rises<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>post offices on tiny<span style="color: Red;">*</span>island nations. Only 100 of the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Nevada-born corporations<span style="color: Red;">*</span>have officers with addresses in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>this country: 90 in Nevada, nine in Florida and one in Delaware.
The financial records show more than<span style="color: Red;">*</span>600<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of the companies' corporate officers are listed at one of just two addresses in the world, one<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Panama and the other<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Seychelles, a small Indian Ocean archipelago. The addresses, in both countries, are the same as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Mossack Fonseca's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>headquarters.
For about<span style="color: Red;">*</span>700<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of the American shell<span style="color: Red;">*</span>companies, the corporate officers<span style="color: Red;">*</span>are business entities rather than people,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>meaning no individual is linked to the Nevada<span style="color: Red;">*</span>firm in state records.
“We shouldn’t be thinking about this as a Panamanian problem,” said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy in Washington, D.C. “We should be thinking about this as a very American problem, and a problem that arguably is worse here in the states than it is in Panama.”
The registered agent for all of the companies in Nevada is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>M.F. Corporate Services (Nevada) Ltd., a one-employee operation located in an unassuming Las Vegas office suite.
In Argentina, a prosecutor’s 2014 report on the financial dealings of the former and current presidents, Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and an associate, Lázaro Báez, included the names of 150 of the Nevada corporations with Mossack Fonseca links.
The Nevada corporations have also been brought into the separate<span style="color: Red;">*</span>sprawling nationwide corruption investigation by Brazilian officials, dubbed “Operation Car Wash,” which centers on allegations involving the state oil company Petrobras.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The names of least 45 Nevada-based companies and two Wyoming-based companies linked to Mossack Fonseca are listed in investigative documents connected to the Brazil investigation published online by Brazilian prosecutors.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Among the documents made public by prosecutors is a slide<span style="color: Red;">*</span>presentation<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from Mossack Fonseca’s Brazil office featuring a pie chart of locations it has set up companies.
“Panama, BVI (the British Virgin Islands) and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Nevada represent 87% of our active corporations,” the slide states.
Yet another of the Nevada companies, Cross Trading LLC, is involved in a federal criminal case in the U.S. District Court in New York involving officials at FIFA, soccer’s world governing body.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The federal criminal complaint alleges a $5 million wire transfer was made from the Miami Bank account of a sports management company to a Swiss bank account held by Cross Trading<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as part of a set of alleged bribes related to international soccer tournaments.
Cross Trading LLC’s corporate officer, according to Nevada records, is Camille Services S.A., which has an address in an office building in Seychelles, the island nation off the coast of East Africa. The company’s origin and purpose, in the Nevada business records, is completely hidden from public view.
Some of the Nevada companies do identify individual people as officers.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A dozen of the companies birthed by the firm's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Nevada shell-company factory were controlled by members of one of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Thailand’s wealthiest dynasties, the Chirathivat clan<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that owns a sprawling<span style="color: Red;">*</span>empire of shopping malls, hotels and real estate developments in every major city in Thailand.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Tos Chirathivat, the American-educated<span style="color: Red;">*</span>chief executive,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is listed as an officer in six different Nevada<span style="color: Red;">*</span>corporations set up by MF Nevada. Another six Nevada firms<span style="color: Red;">*</span>have had officers that are Tos’ relatives or people associated with the family’s Central Group of Companies,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>all tracing back to the same Bangkok addresses. The Central Group, which Forbes estimates is already worth almost $12 billion, is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>expanding across Southeast Asia and into Europe. But it's unclear<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the purpose of his family's Nevada holdings, which bear names such as Anir One<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and Consolidated International One.
THE PANAMA PAPERSDavid Cameron admits ties to Panama Papers scandal | 01:33The prime minister owned shares in a trust tied to the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers leak. But he insists he paid tax on that money.Video provided by Newsy Newslook
THE PANAMA PAPERSPoliticians linked to the Panama Papers | 00:52A USA TODAY motion graphic highlighting politicians around the world linked to the Panama Papers data leak. By George Petras, Ramon Padilla, Frank Pompa and Berna Elibuyuk, USA TODAY
THE PANAMA PAPERSEurope Official 'Furious' With Panama Papers | 01:41European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici on Thursday said he was "outraged and furious" with the revelations of the Panama Papers. (April 7) AP
THE PANAMA PAPERSDemonstrations in Iceland following Panama Papers scandal | 01:02Demonstrators in Iceland gathered outside parliament banging barricades, a day after the prime minister's resignation over the Panama Papers scandal that propelled the Pirate Party to the top of polls ahead of a possible snap election.Video provided Newslook
THE PANAMA PAPERSHow the Panama Papers came to be | 02:08Gerard Ryle, Director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, tells USA TODAY how the Panama Papers came to be. USA TODAY
THE PANAMA PAPERSHeartland city, shell company haven? | 01:24Cheyenne, Wyo. is getting attention for its role in the Panama papers scandal. Video by Trevor Hughes
THE PANAMA PAPERSPanama Papers: Next world leader to resign | 01:05Irish bookmaker Paddy Power released the odds for various world leaders to resign as a result of the Panama Papers in light of Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson's decision to step down. USA TODAY
THE PANAMA PAPERSObama, World Leaders React to 'Panama Papers' | 01:48Governments around the world are trying to contain the fallout from the publication of thousands of names of rich and powerful people who conducted offshore financial activity through a Panamanian law firm. (April 5) AP
THE PANAMA PAPERSThese politicians have links to the Panama Papers | 01:22Here are 12 of the 140 politicians worldwide who have been linked to Mossack Fonseca either directly or by association. Video by Jasper Colt and Caleb Calhoun, USA TODAY
THE PANAMA PAPERS'Panama Papers' force Iceland's PM to resign | 00:39After leaked files showed the premier's wife owned an offshore firm with big claims on Iceland's collapsed banks, the deputy head of his party said on Tuesday Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson will step down. USA TODAY
THE PANAMA PAPERSThe Panama Papers: What you need to know | 00:42Here are the basics of what the Panama Papers leak is all about. Video by Jasper Colt, USA TODAY
THE PANAMA PAPERSThe 'Panama Papers' possible impact on banks | 03:32John Haynes, head of research at Investec Wealth & Investment, discusses the state of financial services system and possible impact from the leak of the 'Panama Papers'. Bloomberg
THE PANAMA PAPERSPanama papers show how world leaders hide wealth | 01:08A dozen heads of state or former heads of state are included in the data leak from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.Video provided by Newsy
THE PANAMA PAPERSPanama Papers put 'global elites' wealth in spotlight | 03:00In today's "Morning Must Read," Bloomberg's Tom Keene discusses the far-reaching impact of a leaked report on the world's wealthy and powerful hiding money in banks and shell companies. He speaks on "Bloomberg GO." Bloomberg
THE PANAMA PAPERSIceland's PM urged to resign after 'Panama papers' leak | 00:43Iceland's prime minister is under pressure to quit after the leak of the 'Panama Papers' tax documents showed he and his wife used an offshore firm to allegedly hide million-dollar investments. Newslook
THE PANAMA PAPERSUnprecedented document leak shows how powerful people hide their money | 01:10An anonymous person leaked 11 million documents describing how the world's rich and powerful hide money in offshore tax havens.Video provided by Newsy Newslook
THE PANAMA PAPERSThe Panama papers leak | 01:28Mossack Fonseca's data leak provided a rare insight into offshore finance, and journalists are trying to make sure you get why it's a big deal.Video provided by Newsy Newslook
THE PANAMA PAPERSRaw: Iceland Protests After Panama Leaks | 01:01Protesters rallied outside the Icelandic Parliament in the capital Reykjavik on Monday as anger mounted over the Prime Minister's alleged link to an offshore company that would represent a serious conflict of interest. (April 4) AP
Last VideoNext Video
Beyond that, there are very few individuals that are listed as the officer in more than one of the vaguely-named, nearly untraceable companies. A few are names of people who've shown up in news accounts as operating affiliates or associates of Mossack Fonseca, but who are difficult to locate and therefore couldn't be asked to answer questions about their roles and duties as officers of the companies, or whether they had any beyond being listed on the paperwork filed with the state of Nevada.
In Wyoming, where Mossack Fonseca has also registered about two dozen companies, corporations are even harder to trace. Officers of the companies are not listed in public business records.
USA TODAY
The story behind the massive Panama Papers leak
“They’re actively selling this stuff abroad,” Heather Lowe, director of government affairs at Global Financial Integrity, a Washington<span style="color: Red;">*</span>research group, said of the secrecy offered by a handful of U.S. states.
In a statement responding to recent media coverage of the leaked Panama Papers, Mossack Fonesca defended its practices and said incorporating companies in different jurisdictions is “the normal activity of lawyers and agents around the world.”
On Wednesday, Wyoming Secretary of State’s Office announced it conducted a review in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>response to the Panama Papers leak and found companies registered by an audit of M.F. Corporate Services Wyoming LLC “failed to maintain the required statutory information for performing the duties of a registered agent under Wyoming law.”
Wyoming added that did not mean it would change how it handles corporate filings.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“We are not naive as to the importance of the release of these ‘Panama Papers,’ but we will not compromise the privacy of our customers,” Wyoming Secretary of State Ed Murray said in a statement.
While the Wyoming investigation is ongoing, Nevada officials have remained quiet about the data leak.
In response to questions about Nevada’s reputation for protecting corporate secrecy, Nevada Secretary of State’s Office spokeswoman Kaitlin Barker noted the state’s corporation laws state “a person shall not establish a corporation for any illegal purpose or with the fraudulent intent to conceal any business activity, or lack thereof, from another person or a governmental agency.”
Patricia Amunategui, who runs Mossack Fonseca’s corporation registration operations in Las Vegas and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Wyoming, said in a 2014 deposition that very little is required of foreign businesses who want to register a corporation in Nevada.
USA TODAY
Panama Papers reveal Americans with past financial crimes
“Under the Nevada law, they don’t ask you any more,” she said, “just the name and (whether or not) the original of the company is in good standing.”
In its statement, Mossack Fonseca added it has always complied with international protocols including the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, “to assure as is reasonably possible, that the companies we incorporate are not being used for tax evasion, money laundering, terrorist finance or other illicit purposes.”
In her 2014 deposition, Amunategui said she was advised by lawyers to stop signing her name to corporation documents as the secretary of the companies before FATCA took effect in 2015.
“I’m a U.S. person,” she said, “and I want to follow the law.”
Contributing: John Kelly
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed