This is a massive article, too big for me to copypast
Pandora Papers | A Global Investigation
Billions Hidden Beyond Reach
Trove of secret files details opaque financial universe where global elite shield riches from taxes, probes and accountability
A massive trove of private financial records shared with The Washington Post exposes vast reaches of the secretive offshore system used to hide billions of dollars from tax authorities, creditors, criminal investigators and — in 14 cases involving current country leaders — citizens around the world.
The revelations include more than $100 million spent by King Abdullah II of Jordan on luxury homes in Malibu, Calif., and other locations; millions of dollars in property and cash secretly owned by the leaders of the Czech Republic, Kenya, Ecuador and other countries; and a waterfront home in Monaco acquired by a Russian woman who gained considerable wealth after she reportedly had a child with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Other disclosures hit closer to home for U.S. officials and other Western leaders who frequently condemn smaller countries whose permissive banking systems have been exploited for decades by looters of assets and launderers of dirty money.
Read key takeaways from the Pandora Papers investigation
The files provide substantial new evidence, for example, that South Dakota now rivals notoriously opaque jurisdictions in Europe and the Caribbean in financial secrecy. Tens of millions of dollars from outside the United States are now sheltered by trust companies in Sioux Falls, some of it tied to people and companies accused of human rights abuses and other wrongdoing.
The details are contained in more than 11.9 million financial records that were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and examined by The Post and other partner news organizations. The files include private emails, secret spreadsheets, clandestine contracts and other records that unlock otherwise impenetrable financial schemes and identify the individuals behind them.
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A trove of secret files details the financial universe where global elite shield riches from taxes, probes and accountability. (Sarah Hashemi, Luis Velarde/The Washington Post)
The trove, dubbed the Pandora Papers, exceeds the dimensions of the leak that was at the center of the Panama Papers investigation five years ago. That data was drawn from a single law firm, but the new material encompasses records from 14 separate financial-services entities operating in countries and territories including Switzerland, Singapore, Cyprus, Belize and the British Virgin Islands.
The files detail more than 29,000 offshore accounts, more than double the number identified in the Panama Papers. Among the account owners are more than 130 people listed as billionaires by Forbes magazine and more than 330 public officials in more than 90 countries and territories, twice the number found in the Panama documents.
Types of files included in the Pandora Papers investigation
The trove of financial records unlocks otherwise impenetrable financial schemes and identifies the individuals behind them.
11.9M TOTAL FILES
= 5,000 files
2.9M images
6.4M documents
Including scans of passports, diagrams of trust schemes, logos of trust companies
Including trust contracts, beneficial owner profiles, risk assesment results and more
1.2M emails
Including mail between clients and trust companies
467K spreadsheets
Including data listing beneficial owners of trusts
887K other file types
Including audio and video files
In its statement, Alcogal said it was inaccurate “to imply that we have not classified certain individuals as PEPs, where in fact we have." The firm declined to address specific cases. Overall, the company said, “We have always acted according to the law, and have cooperated in all respects with competent authorities.”
At times, financial advisers pushed Alcogal to do even more to protect the identities of their clients.
Jurg Wissmann, a Swiss lawyer who has represented Putin associates and used Alcogal to set up at least 150 companies in Belize and other tax havens, warned officers at Alcogal never to store any of his clients’ names on computer systems, according to documents.
“You are obliged to keep secrecy for our clients,” he wrote, “and to not make feasible at all a second Panama Papers story.” Wissman did not respond to requests for comment.
Only a few of Wissmann’s clients are named in the Pandora documents.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/interactive/2021/pandora-papers-offshore-finance/