Secrecy World
Page 37
“a money-washing machine”: Rolando Rodríguez B., “Mossack Fonseca Employees Face Charges in Brazil,” La Prensa, January 28, 2016, http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Mossack-Fonseca_21_4403019655.html.
The firm responded with a statement: “Mossack Fonseca—Announcement Regarding Clarification of Media Reports,” https://mossfon.wordpress.com/2016/02/15/mossack-fonseca-announcement-regarding-clarification-of-media-reports/.
paid a visit to La Prensa: Author interview with Rolando Rodríguez, Panama, August 2016.
Bronstein looked in the front seat: Author interview with Scott Bronstein, Panama, August 2016.
17: THE WAVE BREAKS
Pálsdóttir posted a confusing statement on her Facebook page: Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir, Facebook post, March 15, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/AnnaStellaP/posts/10154071610940559.
A detailed request-for-comment letter: Bernstein et al., “All Putin’s Men.”
“honey-worded queries”: “Kremlin: Some Mass Media Prepare Outspoken Pre-Planned Attack Against Putin,” Tass, March 28, 2016, http://tass.com/politics/865567.
Peskov, whose wife also had a company with Mossfon: https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/persons/peskov/.
The efficiency of their attacks would not be high: “Kremlin Warns of Wave of False Media Reports on Putin in the Works,” Sputnik International, March 28, 2016, https://sputniknews.com/russia/201603281037083084-kremlin-putin-false-media-reports-world/.
A subsequent analysis of Mossfon’s cybersecurity: Mark Maunder, “Mossack Fenseca Breach—WordPress Revolution Slider Plugin Possible Cause,” Wordfence, April 7, 2016, https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2016/04/mossack-fonseca-breach-vulnerable-slider-revolution/.
at least twenty-five known vulnerabilities: Matt Burgess and James Temperton, “The Security Flaws at the Heart of the Panama Papers,” Wired, April 6, 2016, http://www.wired.co.uk/article/panama-papers-mossack-fonseca-website-security-problems.
“Mossack Fonseca lets cat out of bag”: “Mossack Fonseca Lets Cat Out of Bag Ahead of Worldwide Coverage of Massive Panama Leaks Data,” Running Commentary: Daphne Caruana Galizia’s Notebook, April 2, 2016, https://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2016/04/mossack-fonseca-let-cat-bag/.
“Biggest leak in the history of data journalism”: Edward Snowden, Twitter post, April 3, 2016, https://twitter.com/snowden/status/716683740903247873?lang=es.
ICIJ’s website received more than six million page views: Email to author from Hamish Boland-Rudder, July 28, 2017.
the largest protest in the country’s history: Jessica Durando, “Thousands Call for Iceland PM to Resign After Panama Papers Leak,” USA Today, April 4, 2016, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/04/panama-papers-iceland-reaction-prime-minister/82622674/.
FIFA’s new president, the files revealed: Michael W. Hudson, “Panama Papers Spark High-Level FIFA Resignation and Swiss Police Raid,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, April 6, 2016, https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160406-uefa-raid-fifa-resignation.html.
the Swiss federal police conducted raids: “Panama Papers: UEFA Offices Searched by Swiss Police,” BBC, April 6, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/35981302.
seized the Nahmads’ Modigliani painting: Martha M. Hamilton, “Contested Modigliani Seized from Freeport as Swiss Open Investigation,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, April 11, 2016, https://panamapapers.icij.org/blog/20160411-swiss-art-freeport-search.html.
After three days of prevarications, Cameron finally admitted: Robert Booth, Holly Watt, and David Pegg, “David Cameron Admits He Profited from Father’s Panama Offshore Trust,” Guardian, April 7, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/07/david-cameron-admits-he-profited-fathers-offshore-fund-panama-papers.
“It should be noted that these documents”: “For Communication Media, ‘Panama Papers,’” Ministerio del Poder Popular para la Comunicación, Venezuela, April 4, 2016, translated by the author.
Macri was listed as a decadelong director of Fleg Trading: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/15002701.
“The Kirchneristas accused us”: Author interview with Mariel Fitz Patrick, June 2017.
La Nación itself was in the data: “La Nación a sus lectores,” La Nación, April 10, 2016, http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1887983-la-nacion-a-sus-lectores.
allowing the publication of the businessmen’s names: Iván Ruiz, Maia Jastreblansky, and Hugo Alconada Mon, “Panamá Papers: Aparecen grandes empresarios locales,” La Nación, April 19, 2016, http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1890675-panama-papers-aparecen-grandes-empresarios-locales.
government supporters demonstrated outside El Comercio and El Universo: “Panama Papers: Harassment of Journalists in Ecuador and Venezuela Must End,” IFEX, April 22, 2016, https://www.ifex.org/ecuador/2016/04/22/panama_papers/.
the country’s attorney general, the president’s cousin: “Panama Papers: The Power Players,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, https://panamapapers.icij.org/the_power_players/.
As part of his efforts to rein in the media: Freedom House, “Freedom of the Press 2015: Ecuador,” https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-press/2015/ecuador.
“If you censor more than 99% of the documents”: Timothy Bertrand, “WikiLeaks Had Some Snarky Tweets About the Panama Papers,” Social News Daily, April 7, 2016, http://socialnewsdaily.com/62059/wikileaks-panama-papers-tweets/.
Several quick-witted techies put the URL online: narkopolo, Twitter post, April 5, 2016, https://twitter.com/nark0polo/status/717473567286411266.
Hundreds of reporters, editors, and free-speech activists: “Hundreds Join Protest over Sacking of Ming Pao Editor,” Hong Kong Free Press, May 2, 2016, https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/05/02/hundreds-join-protest-sacking-ming-pao-editor/.
the “ginger protest”: Ibid.
Caraballo confiscated copies of Mossfon’s computer data: Martha M. Hamilton and Emilia Díaz-Struck, “Panama Police Raid Mossack Fonseca as Global Fallout Continues,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, April 13, 2016, https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160413-panama-raids-mossack-fonseca.html; and “MP asegura archivos de Mossack Fonseca,” La Prensa, April 14, 2016, http://impresa.prensa.com/panorama/MP-asegura-archivos-Mossack-Fonseca_0_4460553901.html.
He sought out Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal: Kejal Vyas, “Co-Founder of Mossack Fonseca Defends Law Firm at Center of ‘Panama Papers,’” Wall Street Journal, April 7, 2016, https://www.wsj.com/articles/co-founder-of-mossack-fonseca-defends-law-firm-1460004583?tesla=y&mg=prod/accounts-wsj.
European authorities pledged new cooperation: “Five EU Nations Agree Tax Crackdown in Wake of Panama Leak,” BBC, April 15, 2016, http://www.bbc.com/news/business-36052142.
Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York: Rupert Neate, “Panama Papers: US Launches Criminal Inquiry into Tax Avoidance Claims,” Guardian, April 19, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/19/panama-papers-us-justice-department-investigation-tax-avoidance.
Spain’s minister of industry resigned: Raphael Minder, “Spain’s Industry Minister Steps Down over Panama Papers Revelations,” New York Times, April 15, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/16/world/europe/panama-papers-spain.html.
only if the person owned more than 25 percent: David Dayen, “The Obama Administration’s Panama Papers Misfire: Why New Rules to Curtail Global Tax Avoidance Could Actually Make Things Worse,” Salon, May 10, 2016, http://www.salon.com/2016/05/10/the_obama_administrations_panama_papers_misfire_why_new_rules_to_curtail_global_tax_avoidance_could_actually_make_things_worse/.
Investigators carried out bags of shredded documents: Katherine Chang and Jorge E. Quirós, “Allanan depósitos de Mossack Fonseca en Parque Lefevre,” TVN Noticias, April 22, 2016, https://www.tvn-2.com/nacionales/judicial/MP-allananamiento-depositos-Mossack-Fonseca_0_4466553360.html.
users of the interactive database could visually see the connections: Marina Walker Guevara, “ICIJ Releases D
atabase Revealing Thousands of Secret Offshore Companies,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, May 9, 2016, https://panamapapers.icij.org/blog/20160509-offshore-database-release.html.
Carvajal worried that John Doe might suffer a similar fate: Email to author from Rigoberto Carvajal, June 2017.
“I do not work for any government or intelligence agency”: “Panama Papers Source Offers Documents to Governments, Hints at More to Come,” International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, May 6, 2016, https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160506-john-doe-statement.html.
18: THE SECRECY WORLD ENTERS THE WHITE HOUSE
Yalçındağ was calling from Trump Tower: Paul Blumenthal, “Trump Touted His Turkish Business Partner in a Call with President Erdogan,” Huffington Post, November 23, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-turkey-business_us_5836188ae4b01ba68ac41d9f.
furious over the Russian revelations contained in the Panama Papers: “Intelligence Report on Russian Hacking,” New York Times, January 6, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/06/us/politics/document-russia-hacking-report-intelligence-agencies.html.
378 individual Delaware companies: Kevin G. Hall, Franco Ordoñez, and Vera Bergengruen, “What Panama Papers Say—and Don’t Say—About Trump,” McClatchy DC, April 29, 2016, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article74789322.html.
real estate transactions with Panama-based Mossfon companies as early as 1994: Letter from Rana Hunter Williams to Process Consultants Inc., September 6, 1994.
Russian state-controlled bank Vnesheconombank, or VEB: Ben Protess, Andrew E. Kramer, and Mike McIntire, “Bank at Center of U.S. Inquiry Projects Russian ‘Soft Power,’” New York Times, June 4, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/04/business/vnesheconombank-veb-bank-russia-trump-kushner.html
the developers battled cost overruns and delays on the condo-hotel development: “Trump’s Name May Not Stay on Toronto Tower as Push for Buyers Begins,” Financial Post, November 25, 2016, http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/mortgages-real-estate/trumps-name-may-not-stay-on-toronto-tower-as-push-for-buyers-begins/wcm/b7732a42-835e-462b-81ee-cca2c16c2f20.
who had at least three Mossfon companies and a trust: Wendy Dent, Ed Pilkington, and Shaun Walker, “Jared Kushner Sealed Real Estate Deal with Oligarch’s Firm Cited in Money-Laundering Case,” Guardian, July 24, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/24/jared-kushner-new-york-russia-money-laundering.
the Trump Department of Justice abruptly settled with Prevezon for $5.9 million: Jose Pagliery, “Russian Money-Laundering Details Remain in the Dark as US Settles Fraud Case,” CNN, May 13, 2017, http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/13/world/prevezon-settlement/index.html.
gas billionaire Dmitry Firtash: Adam Weinstein and Laura Juncadella, “Trump Campaign Manager’s Ukrainian Clients Have Panama Papers Connections,” Fusion TV, July 22, 2016, http://fusion.net/story/328264/paul-manafort-trump-campaign-panama-papers-connection/.
metals magnate Oleg Deripaska: Adam Weinstein and Laura Juncadella, “Trump Campaign Manager’s Ukrainian Clients Have Panama Papers Connections,” Fusion, July 22, 2016, http://fusion.net/story/328264/paul-manafort-trump-campaign-panama-papers-connection/.
appears to have written to the law firm in 1992: Letter to Yolanda De Azcarraga from Sebastian Gorka, August 20, 1992.
According to an account of the conversation between Trump and Erdoğan: Amberin Zaman, “From Trump to Erdogan: My Daughter Ivanka Is Your Big Fan and Supporter,” Diken, November 10, 2016, http://www.diken.com.tr/trump-erdogan-gorusmesi-kizim-ivanka-sizin-buyuk-hayraniniz-ve-taraftariniz/.
regularly conducted business with people connected to the Mafia: Michael Rothfeld and Alexandra Berzon, “Donald Trump and the Mob,” Wall Street Journal, September 1, 2016, https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-dealt-with-a-series-of-people-who-had-mob-ties-1472736922.
Building unions known to be controlled by the Mob: Ibid.
dried up funding from most U.S. banks: Anupreeta Das, “When Donald Trump Needs a Loan, He Chooses Deutsche Bank,” Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2016, https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-donald-trump-needs-a-loan-he-chooses-deutsche-bank-1458379806.
their relationship with the president of the United States: Dan Alexander, “In Trump They Trust: Inside the Web of Partners Cashing In on the President,” Forbes, March 20, 2017, https://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2017/03/20/in-trump-they-trust-inside-the-global-web-of-partners-cashing-in-on-the-president/#2a7573987605.
a pilot project that forced real estate agents in Miami and New York: Louise Story, “U.S. Will Track Secret Buyers of Luxury Real Estate,” New York Times, January 13, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/us/us-will-track-secret-buyers-of-luxury-real-estate.html.
needed to obtain an Employee Identification Number: “United States Tax Alert,” Deloitte, International Tax, December 20, 2016, https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Tax/dttl-tax-alert-united-states-6038a-20-december-2016.pdf.
Congress repealed an anticorruption measure: Tim Fernholz, “Republicans Want US Oil Companies to Keep Their Payments to Corrupt Governments Secret,” Quartz, February 2, 2017, https://qz.com/901494/republicans-will-repeal-cardin-lugar-and-let-us-oil-companies-hide-their-payments-to-corrupt-governments-again/.
“you’ll do business nowhere”: “Trump: Dimon’s Woes & Zuckerberg’s Prenuptial,” CNBC video, May 15, 2012, http://www.cnbc.com/video/2012/05/15/trump-dimons-woes-zuckerbergs-prenuptial.html?play=1.
“Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant”: Donald J. Trump, Twitter post, June 18, 2013, https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/347191326112112640?lang=en.
Putin sent a decorative lacquered box: Tom Hamburger, Rosalind S. Helderman, and Michael Birnbaum, “Inside Trump’s Financial Ties to Russia and His Unusual Flattery of Vladimir Putin,” Washington Post, June 17, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-trumps-financial-ties-to-russia-and-his-unusual-flattery-of-vladimir-putin/2016/06/17/dbdcaac8-31a6-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html?utm_term=.a39ebca741c0.
having received Russia’s Order of Honour: “Vladimir Putin Decorated Aras Agalarov with the Order of Order,” Crocus Group, October 29, 2013, http://crocusgroup.com/press-center/news/752/.
“I have a great relationship with many Russians”: Julie Strickland, “The Donald, Sapir Mull Bringing Trump Soho to Moscow,” Real Deal, November 12, 2013, https://therealdeal.com/2013/11/12/the-donald-sapir-execs-mull-bringing-trump-soho-to-moscow/.
a condominium project in partnership with U.S. tobacco executives: Hamburger, Helderman, and Birnbaum, “Inside Trump’s Financial Ties to Russia.”
Ravana, the Arif family foundation: Email from Jason Vella Tabone to Mossack Fonseca & Co, Subject: Rosetti Overseas Ltd, September 27, 2013.
linked to corruption in international soccer: Michael Bird, Zeynep Sentek, and Craig Shaw, “Football Leaks: Kazakh Moguls, the Pal of Donald Trump, Teen Models and the Yacht of the ‘Father of the Turks,’” Black Sea, December 16, 2016, https://theblacksea.eu/index.php?idT=88&idC=88&idRec=1274&recType=story.
a Mafia-related $40 million pump-and-dump penny stock fraud in 1998: Ibid.
When questioned about Sater: Rosalind S. Helderman and Tom Hamburger, “Former Mafia-Linked Figure Describes Association with Trump,” Washington Post, May 17, 2016, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/former-mafia-linked-figure-describes-association-with-trump/2016/05/17/cec6c2c6-16d3-11e6-aa55-670cabef46e0_story.html?utm_term=.4ba08dce702d.
Their best-known joint project was Trump SoHo: Associated Press, “City Backs 46-Story Trump Condo-Hotel Project in SoHo,” Daily News (New York), September 23, 2007, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/city-backs-46-story-trump-condo-hotel-project-soho-article-1.242953.
Trump received a 15 percent cut of sales: Ruth Sherlock and Edward Malnick, “Donald Trump May Go Before Court over Tax Deal That Deprived US Treasury of Millions of Dollars,” Telegraph, August 7, 2016, http://www.
telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/07/trump-may-go-before-court-over-deal-that-deprived-us-treasury-of/.
in return for future profits: Gary Silverman, “Trump’s Russian Riddle, “Financial Times, August 14, 2016, https://www.ft.com/content/549ddfaa-5fa5-11e6-b38c-7b39cbb1138a.
embezzlement of about $22 million: Vala Hafstad, “Panama Papers Expose Icelandic Executive,” Iceland Review, May 13, 2016, http://icelandreview.com/news/2016/05/13/panama-papers-expose-icelandic-executive; and Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir, “Former FL Group CEO Acquitted in District Court,” Iceland Review, February 18, 2015, http://icelandreview.com/news/2015/02/18/former-fl-group-ceo-acquitted-district-court.
“I don’t know who owns Bayrock”: Silverman, “Trump’s Russian Riddle.”
conglomerate with far-flung interests ranging from mining to construction: Mike McIntire, “Donald Trump Settled a Real Estate Lawsuit, and a Criminal Case Was Closed,” New York Times, April 5, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/06/us/politics/donald-trump-soho-settlement.html.
whose grandson and other relatives had their own Mossfon companies: Vlad Lavrov and Irene Velska, “Kazakhstan: President’s Grandson Hid Assets Offshore,” OCCRP, April 4, 2016, https://www.occrp.org/en/panamapapers/kazakh-presidents-grandson-offshores/.
an undisclosed sum without admitting wrongdoing: William MacNamara and Stanley Pignal, “Case Against Three ENRC Oligarchs Settled,” Financial Times, August 17, 2011, https://www.ft.com/content/95f8ecc4-c8dd-11e0-a2c8-00144feabdc0.
“Due to the adverse results”: Email from Mossack Fonseca & Co to St. Peters Trust, May 22, 2014.
on the grounds of a former African Methodist Episcopal church: Michael Idov, “Trump Soho Is Not an Oxymoron,” New York, March 30, 2008, http://nymag.com/news/features/45591/index2.html.
forcing the building into foreclosure where it was sold at auction: Craig Karmin, “CIM Group to Take Control of New York’s Trump SoHo Hotel-Condo,” Wall Street Journal, November 20, 2014, https://www.wsj.com/articles/cim-group-to-take-control-of-new-yorks-trump-soho-hotel-condo-1416513457.