an election marked by violence, vote rigging, and fraud: “Nigeria: Political Violence & Elections, 02/03/03,” Africa Action: Africa Policy E-Journal (University of Pennsylvania, African Studies Center), February 3, 2003, https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Urgent_Action/apic-020303.html.
Halliburton paid $35 million in a settlement: “Halliburton Settles Nigeria Bribery Claims for $35 million,” CNN, December 21, 2010, http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/12/21/nigeria.halliburton/index.html.
But by 1998, both the United States and the United Kingdom had signed: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, “Ratification Status as of May 2017,” OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, http://www.oecd.org/daf/anti-bribery/WGBRatificationStatus.pdf.
“I relished the opportunity to talk”: Sentencing Before the Honorable Keith P. Ellison, United States of America v. Jeffrey Tesler, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, No. H-09-CR-98-1, February 23, 2012.
to purchase 108 square miles in Namibia for a hunting reserve: Shinovene Immanuel, “Absentee Russian Landlord in Panama Papers,” Namibian, May 13, 2016, http://www.namibian.com.na/index.php?page=archive-read&id=150709.
More than five hundred banks registered nearly 15,600 shell companies: “Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-overview.html.
F. David Ford, the head of compliance for Republic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/f-david-ford-379ab87.
his wife was employed by the U.S. Justice Department: François Pilet and Marie Maurisse, “#Swissleaks: David Ford, l’homme de Washington,” Hebdo, February 11, 2015, http://www.hebdo.ch/hebdo/cadrages/detail/swissleaks-david-ford-falciani-fraudeurs-narcodollars-cash-coke-diamants-arme.
Ford denies the allegation: Communication from F. David Ford to author, August 2017.
even surfaced in a Swiss newspaper: François Pilet and Marie Maurisse, “David Ford, L’homme de Washington,” L’Hebdo, February 12, 2015, https://francoispilet.net/david-ford-lhomme-de-washington/.
Somewhere in Geneva was a covert CIA listening post: Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, and Laura Poitras, “Edward Snowden: The Whistleblower Behind the NSA Surveillance Revelations,” Guardian, June 11, 2013, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance.
By the end of 1953, they had devised a plan: Riggs Docs from CIA Reading Room—Secret Security Information, declassified, CIA Reading Room.
The island’s ruler, France-Albert René: “President Steps Down After 27 Years,” Los Angeles Times, April 15, 2004, http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/15/world/fg-briefs15.6.
fished the body of a Mafia soldier out of the swamps: The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Ambassador David J. Fischer, interviewed by Charles Stuart Kennedy and Robert S. Pastorino, initial interview date March 6, 1998, p. 100.
“You are hereby instructed never to report”: Ibid., p. 99.
eventually accounting for more than fifteen thousand companies: “Explore the Panama Papers Key Figures,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, https://panamapapers.icij.org/graphs/.
5: HOW TO BEAT THE GAME
Targeted at financial intermediaries, offshore professionals, and high-net-worth individuals: “Shorex 97: What Happened at Shorex 97?,” http://web.archive.org/web/19980204222142/http://www.shorex.com/shx97.htm.
eighty exhibitors advertised their services: “Shorex 97: Exhibitors and Sponsors,” http://web.archive.org/web/19980204221914/http://www.shorex.com/exhib97.htm.
it was a “must be there” event: “Shorex 97: What Happened at Shorex 97?”
More than half the world’s wealth was controlled offshore: “Press Release—The World Is Going Offshore at Shorex 97,” October 3, 1997, http://www.mondaq.com/article.asp?article_id=2863.
The reactions of attendees to the agents ran from fear to befuddlement: Author interview with Joe West, New Jersey, February 2017.
A Cyprus exhibitor explained to the agents: Jay Adkisson, “Cyprus and the Death of an Offshore Haven,” Forbes, March 25, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/jayadkisson/2013/03/25/cyprus-and-the-death-of-an-offshore-haven/#3745fc6f130f.
links to President Richard Nixon and his Key Biscayne pal Bebe Rebozo: Anthony Summers, The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon (New York: Viking, 2000), p. 254.
The brass criticized the evidence collection: John F. Berry, “C. W. Deaton’s Brilliant Conceived Castle Bank Scam,” Washington Post, April 3, 1977, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1977/04/03/cw-deatons-brilliant-conceived-castle-bank-scam/50b4ad3d-3723-4e43-bcdd-4bd68ecbb2b4/?utm_term=.d2777c5222d9.
It would be more than a decade before the IRS focused on offshore tax abuse again: Author interview with Jack Blum, February 2017.
relatives were paid off the books through gifts of cars, boats, and other assets: David M. Razler, “Cracks in the Glass: The Wheaton Family Feud,” Press of Atlantic City, June 6, 1993.
issued a stinging report in 1985: U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, “Crime and Secrecy: The Use of Offshore Banks and Companies Hearings Before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations,” 99th Cong., 1st Sess. (1985).
The broadcasts prompted a Department of Justice investigation: U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, “Schemes, Scams and Cons: The IRS Strikes Back,” 107th Cong., 2nd Sess., April 11, 2002, p. 47, https://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/81637.pdf.
BCCI grew from $200 million in assets: Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown, “The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate,” 102nd Cong., 2nd Sess., December 1992, p. 40, https://info.publicintelligence.net/The-BCCI-Affair.pdf.
“godfather of Middle East Intelligence”: Ibid., p. 290.
Another large shareholder, Abdul Raouf Khalil: Ibid., p. 38.
regulators yanked its license in 1991: Conrad de Aenlle, “Regulators Rally After BCCI Scandal,” New York Times, November 23, 1991, http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/23/your-money/23iht-m23e.html.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD): http://www.oecd.org/about/history/.
Delaware annually churned out more than a hundred thousand anonymous companies: Daniel Gross, “Listening to Delaware,” Slate, November 7, 2003, http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2003/11/listening_to_delaware.html.
All three were founding members of the OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, http://www.oecd.org/about/history/.
A seemingly infinite number of ways existed: “Money Laundering: Methods and Markets,” in Peter Reuter and Edwin M. Truman, Chasing Dirty Money: The Fight Against Money Laundering (Washington, DC: Peterson Institute for International Economics, 2004), pp. 25–43.
billions of dollars in Russian capital flowed through it every month: Anthony B. van Fossen, “Money Laundering, Global Financial Responsibility, and Tax Havens in the Pacific Islands,” Contemporary Pacific 15, no. 2 (Fall 2003): 237–75, https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/13737/1/v15n2-237-275.pdf.
selling Nauru bank licenses at $60,000 a pop: David Cay Johnston, “Pioneer of Sham Tax Havens Sits Down for Pre-Jail Chat,” New York Times, November 18, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/18/business/pioneer-of-sham-tax-havenssits-down-for-prejail-chat.html.
they could get the same license for $5,000: Author interview with Jack Blum, February 2017.
accounted for 80 percent of the government’s revenue: Martha M. Hamilton, “Panamanian Law Firm Is Gatekeeper to Vast Flow of Murky Offshore Secrets,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, April 3, 2016, https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-mossack-fonseca-offshore-secrets.html.
the foreign minister refused to meet him: Michael
Field, “Pacific Islands Provided Fertile Ground for Panamanian Law Firm,” Nikkei Asian Review, April 14, 2016, http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20160414-MEXICO-ASIA/Politics-Economy/Pacific-islands-provided-fertile-ground-for-Panamanian-law-firm?page=1.
Mathewson had cooperated with the government to avoid a lengthy prison sentence: Ronald Smothers, “In Plea Deal, a Banker Outlines Money Laundering in Caymans,” New York Times, August 3, 1999, http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/03/us/in-plea-deal-a-banker-outlines-money-laundering-in-caymans.html.
$70 billion in tax revenue was lost each year: U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, “What Is the U.S. Position on Offshore Tax Havens?,” 107th Cong., 1st Sess., July 18, 2001, https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-107shrg75473/html/CHRG-107shrg75473.htm.
controlled an estimated $5 trillion in assets: Minority Staff of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, “Private Banking and Money Laundering: A Case Study of Opportunities and Vulnerabilities,” November 9–10, 1999, http://www.taxjustice.net/cms/upload/pdf/Report_Corresp.Banking.pdf.
The Money Laundering Abatement Act: Senate—Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, S. 1920—Money Laundering Abatement Act of 1999, sponsored by Senator Carl Levin, November 10, 1999, https://www.congress.gov/bill/106th-congress/senate-bill/1920.
“Simply put, the guarantee of secrecy”: Nancy Dillon, “Offshore Tax Dodge Probe IRS, Justice Checking into Bank Credit Card Accounts,” Daily News (New York), March 26, 2002, http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/money/offshore-tax-dodge-probe-irs-justice-checking-bank-credit-card-accounts-article-1.481851.
6: FULL SPEED
the European Union announced what it called a “savings directive”: Charles-Henry Courtois, “The Impact of the European Commission on the Council of Ministers’ Decisions in the Field of European Taxation,” International Public Policy Review 2, no. 2 (November 2006): 26–47, https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ippr/journal/downloads/vol2-2/IPPR_Vol_2_No_2-2.pdf.
“we have before us a very positive outlook”: Mossack Fonseca company newsletter, MF Update: Mossfon Views on the Latest Developments, issue 6, March 2003.
Mossack hired Zollinger as an assistant in 1997: Mario Stäuble, “Der Offshorepilot,” Tages Anzeiger, April 27, 2015, http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wirtschaft/standard/Der-Offshorepilot/story/17029354.
In February 2004, Mossfon received a request: Letter to Mrs. Kelcine Smith-Evans from Loren Klein, February 2, 2004.
“We have noticed that too many clients of yours”: Email from Sandra de Cornejo to John Gordon, February 12, 2004.
“I have read your message and find it very odd”: Email from John Gordon to Sandra de Cornejo, February 12, 2004.
“MF had a tendency to be demanding for stuff then drop it”: Email from John Gordon to author, March 2017.
Ramsés Owens met with executives from the Denmark-based Jyske Bank: Jyske Bank Private Banking contact report, Ramsés Owens, May 19, 2005.
Nordea Bank also helped customers circumvent the rule: Email from Roberth Josefsson, Wealth Planning, Nordea Bank to Jost Dex, May 24, 2005.
Niue maintained a lucrative trade in “900” sex telephone numbers: Tony Horwitz, Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before (New York: Henry Holt, 2002), p. 228.
the BVI government was unconcerned: Email from Ana Escobar to Jürgen Mossack, et al., August 10, 2004.
Francisco Paesa Sánchez, an infamous Spanish intelligence agent and world-class opportunist: José María Irujo, “A Picaresque Life Amid the Halls of Power,” El País, January 3, 2012, http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/01/03/inenglish/1325571644_850210.html; and Jesús Escudero and Will Fitzgibbon, “La ‘resurreción’ del espía Paesa provocó el caos en Mossack Fonseca,” El Confidencial, April 5, 2016, http://www.elconfidencial.com/economia/papeles-panama/2016-04-05/la-resurreccion-del-espia-paesa-provoco-el-caos-en-mossack-fonseca_1179183/.
citing fears that the notorious Spanish spy might tarnish its image: Will Fitzgibbon, “Spies and Shadowy Allies Lurk in Secret with Help from Offshore Firm,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, April 5, 2016, https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160405-spies-secret-offshore-companies.html.
Abacha had funneled some of his illicit money through Swiss banks: Swiss Federal Office of Justice, “Switzerland Provides Mutual Legal Assistance in the Abacha Case,” January 21, 2000, https://www.admin.ch/gov/en/start/dokumentation/medienmitteilungen.msg-id-22828.html.
“corporate governance in Russia!!!”: Email from Manny Cohen to MF&Co, et al., September 23, 2005.
“I’d like to take advantage”: Email from Ana Escobar to Jürgen Mossack, et al., September 27, 2005, translated from the original Spanish by author.
They had placed their money in a sure-fire fund run by Eugenio Curatola: Iván Ruiz, Maia Jastreblansky, and Hugo Alconada Mon, “‘El Madoff argentino’ estafó con un guiño de Mossack Fonseca,” La Nación, May 15, 2016, http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1898918-el-madoff-argentino-estafo-con-un-guino-de-mossack-fonseca.
“the Argentinian Madoff”: Ibid.
the firm tacked on an extra $20 charge: Email from Jochen Brandt to Mario Vlieg, April 17, 2007.
a report on the weapons trade: Sudan: Arming the perpetrators of grave abuses in Darfur, Amnesty International, November 16, 2004.
“People were supplying him with stuff”: “British Arms Dealer Defends Attempts to Supply Sudan,” Scotsman, November 18, 2004, http://www.scotsman.com/news/world/british-arms-dealer-defends-attempts-to-supply-sudan-1-562489#ixzz42StHJTXx%C2%A0.
When they arrived in Kuwait, customs officials intercepted them and tipped off the British: “Arms Dealer Trapped by Shredder,” BBC News, November 26, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/7113506.stm.
Knight was sentenced to four years in prison for arms trafficking: “Arms Dealer Jailed for Four Years,” BBC, November 23, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7110160.stm.
7: THE NORTH STAR
the top 10 percent of wealth holders owning 85 percent of all household wealth: Credit Suisse Research Institute, Global Wealth Report 2014, October 2014, https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/?fileID=60931FDE-A2D2-F568-B041B58C5EA591A4.
His cronies did not need a piece of paper signed by Putin: “Putin’s Secret Riches,” BBC, January 25, 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgDCRegyo7Q.
rumored to be one of the planet’s wealthiest people: Adam Taylor, “Is Vladimir Putin Hiding a $200 Billion Fortune? (And If So, Does It Matter?),” Washington Post, February 20, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/02/20/is-vladimir-putin-hiding-a-200-billion-fortune-and-if-so-does-it-matter/?utm_term=.aa594b8bf90d.
senior KGB officials learned to manipulate offshore banks and companies: Author interview with Karen Dawisha, March 2016.
As a youth, Putin’s ambition: Steven Lee Myers, The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2015), p. 62.
Medvedev has different offshore providers and his own network of school chums: Ivan Nechepurenko, “Kremlin Critic Says Russian Premier, Dmitri Medvedev, Built Property Empire on Graft,” New York Times, March 2, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/world/europe/russia-dmitri-medvedev-aleksei-navalny.html.
to enter into a joint venture with the bank: Karen Dawisha, Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), p. 64.
“Wide-scale infiltration of the Western financial system”: U.S. House Committee on Banking and Financial Services, “Russian Money Laundering,” 106th Cong., 1st Sess., September 21–22, 1999, http://www.archive.org/stream/russianmoneylaun00unit/russianmoneylaun00unit_djvu.txt.
The bulk of the Communist Party’s shares of Bank Rossiya were transferred: Dawisha, Putin’s Kleptocracy, p. 65.
Another early investor in Rossiya was Gennady Petrov: Karen Dawisha, Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2014), p. 67.
Malyushin
himself had a company with Mossfon: “Russia: A High Official Goes Offshore,” Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, April 3, 2016, https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/high-russian-official-offshore/.
a long history of working in cooperation with the Russian mafia: “Putin Allies Aided by Russian Mafia in Spain,” Bloomberg, June 30, 2015, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-06-29/putin-allies-aided-russian-mafia-in-spain-prosecutors-say.
paying $20,000 a month to the crime boss for reasons unknown: Ryan Chittum, Jake Bernstein, and Michael Hudson, “The Malefactors of Mossack Fonseca,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, May 9, 2016, https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160509-malefactors-criminals-offshore.html.
“the Ministry of Privileges”: Myers, The New Tsar, p. 109.
about $30 million in kickbacks: Robin Munro, “Convicted Borodin Will Defy Swiss Court,” St. Petersburg Times, March 19, 2002, http://star.worldbank.org/corruption-cases/sites/corruption-cases/files/documents/arw/Borodin_Switzerland_Conviction_StPetersburg_Times_Mar_19_2002.pdf.
An independent prosecutor, Yury Skuratov: Celestine Bohlen, “Fire Smoldering Under Kremlin Scorches Prosecutor Again,” New York Times, April 3, 1999, http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/03/world/fire-smoldering-under-kremlin-scorches-prosecutor-again.html.
indicted in a Swiss court on charges of money laundering in the Borodin case: Andrew Meier, “Russian Held in New York Was Putin’s Mentor,” Time, January 18, 2001, http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,95681,00.html.
“After the collapse of the Soviet Union”: Author interview with Jürgen Mossack, June 2017.
teased Mossack that he should lighten up, the Cold War was over: Author interview with John Gordon, New York, January 2017.
Russia experienced a total net capital outflow of about $550 billion: “Russia: Massive Capital Flight Continues,” EurasiaNet, April 30, 2015, http://www.eurasianet.org/node/73251.
a Mossfon company registered in the BVI named Southport Management Services Limited: “Treasury Sanctions Individuals and Entities Involved in Sanctions Evasion Related to Russia and Ukraine,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, July 30, 2015, https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl0133.aspx.
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