Guest Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 A law firm that works for Putin and many others just had a major leak. Here is the short version: http://gawker.com/biggest-leak-in-history-reveals-corruption-in-world-lea-1768788422 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 FIFA involved: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/leaked-papers-fifa-ethics-committee-credibility-crisis-juan-pedro-damiani-eugenio-figueredo May bring down Iceland Prime Minister: http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/iceland-pm-calls-snap-election-offshore-revelations Assad, Gaddafi, Mubarak: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-35934836 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 FIFA, Assad and Gaddafi are not very interesting revelations. We knew already that these were corrupt or worse. I find it very strange that so far only names of shady guys/institutions and a politician from a tiny irrelevant western country have been published. I'd be much more interested in those where we might have been deceived that they are "good, honest" businessmen or politicians... No prominent names from Germany, US, France, Britain etc...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 11 minutes ago, Jo498 said: FIFA, Assad and Gaddafi are not very interesting revelations. We knew already that these were corrupt or worse. I find it very strange that so far only names of shady guys/institutions and a politician from a tiny irrelevant western country have been published. I'd be much more interested in those where we might have been deceived that they are "good, honest" businessmen or politicians... No prominent names from Germany, US, France, Britain etc...? Agree, hopefully the data will be released and we can see all the players. I bet there are some American politicos in there. My broader point is that corruption is the cancer that infects every part of the system in countries big or small. It steals trillions in dollars from public yearly and is a key to fixing this place. The UN is involved, and their money even gets sent to these accounts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knute Posted April 3, 2016 Share Posted April 3, 2016 I'm sure there's more to it than this. The only really surprising one is Iceland. Everyone knew that Putin had a shit tonne of money, they just didn't know where it was. It wouldn't even surprise me really if prominent figures in the UK and France came out either. I think it's been everyone's suspicion all along and it's just now coming out. The title and the hype of their article makes it seem as if half this stuff wasn't known already. We shall wait and see about more though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Apparently there are no US figures in the data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DireWolfSpirit Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I'm not sure corruption is the largest problem worldwide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jo498 Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 This seems spot on. We will probably never be told abou the "interesting" customers of that law firm.... https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2016/04/corporate-media-gatekeepers-protect-western-1-from-panama-leak/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knute Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 11 hours ago, Kalbear said: Apparently there are no US figures in the data. There aren't any yet. It's highly unlikely that such high ranking figures all across Europe and Asia get outed but prominent US figures will not. It's just a matter of time until more of the data is processed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mlle. Zabzie Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 6 minutes ago, Knute said: There aren't any yet. It's highly unlikely that such high ranking figures all across Europe and Asia get outed but prominent US figures will not. It's just a matter of time until more of the data is processed. It is very, very difficult in a post-FATCA, post-FBAR/FINCIN world for a US person to do anything like this. I'm not saying it is impossible, because it isn't, but the trail would have to be a lot more difficult to figure out than an initial comb of the data could provide. I also am guessing that you won't find US politicians as much as business folks in the mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maltaran Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 2 hours ago, Mlle. Zabzie said: It is very, very difficult in a post-FATCA, post-FBAR/FINCIN world for a US person to do anything like this. I'm not saying it is impossible, because it isn't, but the trail would have to be a lot more difficult to figure out than an initial comb of the data could provide. I also am guessing that you won't find US politicians as much as business folks in the mix. For example Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fez Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 12 hours ago, Kalbear said: Apparently there are no US figures in the data. The leak is just from a single law firm, its entirely possible that US clients mostly used other ones. And that's probably the biggest news from the leak. Not what any single name that comes out of this is, but rather that just one firm, one of many such firms, was on its own doing this much. The mind boggles at just how big the tax evasion business is as a whole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commodore Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Corruption exists anywhere power is concentrated. Money is power, information is power. the internet decentralized control of information, and is what allows people to find out about this if only there were a similar way to decentralize control of money... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 Quote if only there were a similar way to decentralize control of money... This would amusingly lead to more corruption, not less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 3 hours ago, Knute said: There aren't any yet. It's highly unlikely that such high ranking figures all across Europe and Asia get outed but prominent US figures will not. It's just a matter of time until more of the data is processed. From what I gathered the data has already been scanned and read, just not made into stories and verified. And from what I gathered there were no US political figures as part of that. Which as stated isn't that surprising. I just wouldn't hold your breath waiting for US politician names to surface. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mlle. Zabzie Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 23 minutes ago, Fez said: The leak is just from a single law firm, its entirely possible that US clients mostly used other ones. And that's probably the biggest news from the leak. Not what any single name that comes out of this is, but rather that just one firm, one of many such firms, was on its own doing this much. The mind boggles at just how big the tax evasion business is as a whole. My experience in dealing with such jurisdictions is that there will be like one or two firms per jurisdiction that have the capacity to deal cross-border in a legitimate fashion. E.g., in the Cayman Islands (which is actually way legit) you have Walkers on the one hand and Maples & Calder. If somehow both were conflicted, you would probably end up with Conyers Dill & Pearman or Appleby, both of which are fundamentally Bermuda firms but have Cayman offices and which are both fine firms. There's a reason everybody uses those firms. Same with Panama, and this firm wasn't necessarily on the "legitsky" list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Chatywin et al. Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 11 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said: I'm not sure corruption is the largest problem worldwide? Maybe, maybe not. But you could certainly argue the many of the worlds major problems stem from some form of corruption. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tears of Lys Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I agree, at least, that corruption is **one** of the world's biggest problems. It is one of the bigger reasons why folks distrust their government, at least here in the U.S.A. But what do you **do** about it? Human beings have, within all of us, an inner scorekeeper that tells us things like, "You work hard and deserve more money than you're making," and decide that we'll even things up by taking this or that, whether it be office paper/pens, using the copier for non-company business, etc., etc. Sometimes the excuse is that banks/large companies are evil anyway, so you decide to stick it to the "man" by stealing little things. When you take that first step, it's only a matter of degree how corrupt you are. The more responsibility and higher of position you attain, the greater the opportunity for corruption on a grander scale. In the Detroit Public School system, 12 principals of different area schools were just charged with siphoning off around a million dollars from funds that were supposed to go to the kids. Most school systems need extra dollars, so you can imagine how DPS can ill afford this. In Detroit, these principals got the money from a vendor who was supposed to supply their schools with certain supplies, etc. When an invoice came to the principal to sign off on, even though nothing was received by the school from the vendor, the principal would sign it as being a valid invoice, upper management would pay it to the vendor who, in turn, would pay a portion of the money to the principal, pocketing the balance for him/herself. It's sadly funny that some Detroit parents make excuses for these principals, saying that they're forced to do this so they can buy things for the students. To which I say, HUH?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I sure entered the wrong profession. I see a Russian cellist, who just happens to be Putin's daughter's godfather, controls an account with $100 M in it. Damn, there's good money in cello playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fragile Bird Posted April 4, 2016 Share Posted April 4, 2016 I wondered about the lack of American names on the list. Is this because of: 1. Americans didn't use this firm? or 2. There will be another release of information, dedicated to Americans? or 3. It was the CIA that hacked the law firm's records and did the information dump, and they weren't interested in embarrassing Americans at this point in time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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