Russia Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the Top 1% Hidden Wealth , and the World Elites

[Eaglewings]

• Extensive offshore dealings by Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors, including substantial payments from a firm co-owned by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of the US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross.
  
• How Twitter and Facebook received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments that can be traced back to Russian state financial institutions.
• The tax-avoiding Cayman Islands trust managed by the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s chief moneyman.
  
• A previously unknown $450m offshore trust that has sheltered the wealth of Lord Ashcroft.

• Millions of pounds from the Queen’s private estate has been invested in a Cayman Islands fund – and some of her money went to a retailer accused of exploiting poor families and vulnerable people.
• Extensive offshore dealings by Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors, including substantial payments from a firm co-owned by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of the US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross.
  
• How Twitter and Facebook received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments that can be traced back to Russian state financial institutions.
• The tax-avoiding Cayman Islands trust managed by the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s chief moneyman.
  
• A previously unknown $450m offshore trust that has sheltered the wealth of Lord Ashcroft.

Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the world elite's hidden wealth

 

[nat4900]

.....and, in the U.S., Trump deems that these unethical crooks "deserve" a tax break funded by the middle class and future generations' debt.

 

[waltky]

120 rich and powerful people mentioned in the Paradise Papers...

The Paradise Papers: Revelations Spring From Leaked Records Of World's Wealthy
November 6, 2017 - U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Britain's Queen Elizabeth and a key ally to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are among the 120 rich and powerful people mentioned in the Paradise Papers, a new release of data about offshore tax havens and obscure financial dealings.

The Paradise Papers are a massive trove of 13.4 million records — many of which were leaked from the offshore law firm Appleby, which was founded more than 100 years ago and operates in places ranging from Bermuda and the Cayman Islands to the Isle of Man, Mauritius, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Reflecting millions of loan deals, financial statements, emails and other documents, the data reveals how specialty firms handle the money of wealthy individuals, families and corporations. Some 380 journalists collaborated to unravel the connections in the Paradise Papers' nearly 1.5 terabytes of data. The trove was acquired by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which says the records show how the wealthy and powerful sometimes duck taxes, regulations, sanctions and "at least their social responsibility."

Wilbur Ross "was a major client of Appleby," the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists says, noting that the law firm administered more than 50 companies and partnerships linked to investments on behalf of his private equity firm, W.L. Ross & Co, LLC. "Ross divested himself of most of his business interests when he joined the Trump Cabinet in February 2017," the group says. "But he kept a stake in the shipping company Navigator Holdings through a chain of companies in the Cayman Islands, Appleby's files and public records show." Discussing Ross' Paradise Papers file with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly, reporter Jon Swaine of The Guardian said Ross' investments link him to Navigator — which is in turn linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin's son-in-law. "Navigator is paid about $20 million a year to ship gas out of Russia for a Russian company named Sibur," Swaine said on Morning Edition. "And Sibur is co-owned by Putin's son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov."

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross "was a major client of Appleby," an offshore law firm at the heart of the Paradise Papers, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.​

In an interview with the BBC, Ross said Monday, "There is nothing whatsoever improper about Navigator having a relationship with Sibur." Ross said that Sibur wasn't under sanctions when the deal was made and that it's not under sanctions now. But critics of the arrangement note that in addition to Shamalov, another of Sibur's co-owners is Gennady Timchenko, a close Putin ally who is currently under U.S. sanctions. As for the money generated by the deal, Swaine says, "Navigator's brought in about $68 million in revenue since 2014 from the deal. The contract is worth at least $200 million a year, and it's scheduled to continue for about a decade." Referring to Sibur, the commerce secretary said, "The fact that it happens to be called a Russian company does not mean that there's any evil in it."

Referring to his financial disclosure Form 278 that was filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Ross said, "Where there is evil is the misstatement that I did not disclose those holdings in my original form." Another high-profile figure named in the papers is Queen Elizabeth, who reportedly had around 10 million pounds (some $13 million) of her money offshore, the BBC says. The queen's investments included a previously undisclosed stake in a Cayman fund in control of a rent-to-own company called BrightHouse, which, as the Guardian reports, has been criticized "for exploiting thousands of poor families and vulnerable people." The Guardian notes that Elizabeth's estate, the Duchy of Lancaster, says it was unaware of the holding prior to being contacted by news agencies. The ICIJ notes that "the queen voluntarily pays tax on income received."

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[Kosh]

And also shows a lot of far left people that have done this.

In the vain effort to bash Trump the far left also exposes their own that they follow without question or hesitation.

 

[whitehall]

Funny how the "papers" don't include the Clinton Foundation windfall of rubles right after Hillary authorized the sale of a whopping 20% of American uranium sources to Russia. What was that worth?

 

[waltky]

Everything you need to know about the Paradise Papers leak...

Paradise Papers: Everything you need to know about the leak
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 - The facts behind the latest financial leak, from who's been named to who's the source.

What are the Paradise Papers?

The Paradise Papers are a huge leak of financial documents that throw light on the top end of the world of offshore finance. A number of stories are appearing in a week-long expose of how politicians, multinationals, celebrities and high-net-worth individuals use complex structures to protect their cash from higher taxes.

Graphic showing facts & figures about Appleby. The company has 470 employees, 200 lawyers and 60 partners. It operates from 10 offices wordwide in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guensey, the Seychelles, Mauritius, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The company was started in the 1890s in Bermuda by Major Ronald Appleby. Over 125 years and through a process of mergers and expansion, is it now ranked as one of the world's largest providers of offshore legal services.​

As with last year's Panama Papers leak, the documents were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which called in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to oversee the investigation. BBC Panorama and the Guardian are among the nearly 100 media groups investigating the papers.

The Paradise Papers name was chosen because of the idyllic profiles of many of the offshore jurisdictions whose workings are unveiled, including Bermuda, the HQ of the main company involved, Appleby. It also dovetails nicely with the French term for a tax haven - paradis fiscal. Then again, the Isle of Man plays a big part.

Who is being exposed?