Hiding Your Money

The recent release of the "Pandora Papers" is proving to be an embarrassment of wealthy players around the world. Create shell corporations then pump ill-gotten money through them to invest in really expensive real estate.

The Pandora Papers are a follow to a similar project released in 2016 called the “Panama Papers” compiled by the same journalistic group.

The latest bombshell is even more expansive, porting through nearly 3 terabytes of data — the equivalent of roughly 750,000 photos on a smartphone — leaked from 14 different service providers doing business in 38 different jurisdictions in the world. The records date back to the 1970s, but most of the files span from 1996 to 2020.

In contrast, the Panama Papers culled through 2.6 terabytes of data leaked by one now-defunct law firm called Mossack Fonseca that was located in the country that inspired that project’s nickname.

More on the papers: 

The offshore financial system can siphon money from government treasuries, worsen wealth disparities and protect those accused of wrongdoing while depriving their victims of potential recourse.

Studies have estimated that the world’s ultra-wealthy own the bulk of the trillion-dollar-plus realm of offshore companies. More than 130 people on the Forbes magazine list of billionaires turn up in the Pandora Papers. Some of those billionaires have faced questions regarding the sources of their wealth. Several have been charged with thefts of money or natural resources; others have faced international sanctions for their ties to autocrats and political corruption.

And here's some details on the following key takeaways:

1. Country leaders on five continents use the offshore system
2. Some American states have become central to the global offshore system
3. A global treasure hunt leads to an indicted art dealer’s offshore trusts — and the Met
4. U.S. sanctions imposed on Russian oligarchs hit their targets