Paradise Papers

[Kontinuum]

The world’s biggest businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and sport who have sheltered their wealth in secretive tax havens are being revealed this week in a major new investigation into Britain’s offshore empires.

The details come from a leak of 13.4m files that expose the global environments in which tax abuses can thrive – and the complex and seemingly artificial ways the wealthiest corporations can legally protect their wealth.

The material, which has come from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens, was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with partners including the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times.

The project has been called the Paradise Papers. It reveals:

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.
Aggressive tax avoidance by multinational corporations, including Nike and Apple.
How some of the biggest names in the film and TV industries protect their wealth with an array of offshore schemes.
The billions in tax refunds by the Isle of Man and Malta to the owners of private jets and luxury yachts.
The secret loan and alliance used by the London-listed multinational Glencore in its efforts to secure lucrative mining rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The complex offshore webs used by two Russian billionaires to buy stakes in Arsenal and Everton football clubs.
The disclosures will put pressure on world leaders, including Trump and the British prime minister, Theresa May, who have both pledged to curb aggressive tax avoidance schemes.

The publication of this investigation, for which more than 380 journalists have spent a year combing through data that stretches back 70 years, comes at a time of growing global income inequality.

Meanwhile, multinational companies are shifting a growing share of profits offshore – €600bn in the last year alone – the leading economist Gabriel Zucman will reveal in a study to be published later this week.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/201...idApp_New_Post

[Aitch]

I’ll bet you €600bn nothing at all comes from this.

[schwarzkopf]

I’ll bet you €600bn nothing at all comes from this.

Yep - Like pissing in the ocean. There is so much dirt out there that this barely makes a dent.

[Kalis]

The Guardian Media Group holds its assets in the Cayman Islands, but that doesn’t seem to have been mentioned.

[Fonduset]

Fuck the Queen for having 10 mil in a tax haven!!

[Firatha]

The Guardian Media Group holds its assets in the Cayman Islands, but that doesn’t seem to have been mentioned.

Of course not its a guardian article can't have them saying bad things about themselves that would just be well bad!

[Deleted]

Relevant :

[Allybeboba]

Bilderberg Group stuff.

[Skroe]

Yep - Like pissing in the ocean. There is so much dirt out there that this barely makes a dent.

Very strongly disagree. It really depends on what you mean by "nothing comes of this". From who exactly? Because the Paradise Paper's direct predecessor, the Panama Papers, directly precipitated the extent of Russia's interference in the 2016 election.

The Panama Papers were leaked evidently by an individual working at Mossack Fonseca. Putin believed, with some good reasons, that the leak was also assisted by US intelligence to expose the extent to which Putin's inner circle has looted Russia. In their narrative, the Panama Papers are part of US retaliation against Russia for Russian actions in Ukraine.

Is this the case? Possibly. Probably to some degree. hard to say. But also not entirely relevant because Russia's leaders strongly believed it. Remember, as an authoritarian regime the defense of Russia is second only to the defense of the regime and its hold on power over Russia. Worldwide publication of the extent of Putin oligarchs looting Russia would be a direct assault on the survival of the regime. This goes hand in hand with the fact that the FBI and Treasury have been mapping Putin's regime as a criminal enterprise since at least 2005, when President Bush ordered the creation of the "Putin File" to map how far reaching and how rich Putin's regime has become. Russia is keenly aware that Western intelligence know, or are capable of knowing pretty much everything, even if it is after the fact (witness how fast US intelligence worked out Russia's actions last year... preliminary findings in a few months, more detail inside of a year).

So let's accept given all the above, the Panama Papers were a big deal for Russia's leadership... one that directly precipitated the 2016 interference. And these Paradise Papers are the sequel. Particularly since this fills in even more blanks on Trump-Russia, which has direct implications for Russia's security, its way too soon to say "nothing may come of this."

Nothing may come of this from US law enforcement or US political ends. But they are not the only forces in the world that can make things happen. If Putin's regime sees this as another attack, like they did the Panama papers, what will they do in retaliation? That would certainly qualify as "something".

[Sky High]

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.

well that's a nice big juicy nothingburger.
/HAMFF

[Mormolyce]

I’ll bet you €600bn nothing at all comes from this.

I'm sure our great politicians and captains of industry won't allow this to co...

Oh.

[JohnBrown1917]

Time to bring out the guillotines?

[Acidbaron]

A single nation can't do that much about it and politics is tied to money everywhere, if it's from direct contributions or party chests being filled from taxes, taxes being tied to how well a nation economy is doing.

So people are being scared into believing that if they really do something against those giants bad things will happen, what might be the case but those companies need us more than we need them, essentially they need those big markets, so as much they are a supplier of goods and services they are also a parasite dependent on the body still being alive and present.

Essentially global economics but still very much nationalistic politics, while if nations focused more on these things united it would be very much a win for the national interest camp for all involved but, sell that to your voter base without being labelled as a traitor of sorts or people being scared in how they would all leave their nation and they would lose their jobs, while right now that class in the population is being taxed too much to compensate for these paradises.

[Elba]

Time to bring out the guillotines?

[PACOX]

Didn't similar documents come out last year?

[Mormolyce]

Didn't similar documents come out last year?

Yeah the Panama Papers as they were known.

[melodramocracy]

See? If only the wealthy were freed from the cruel yoke of taxation, they wouldn't resort to this sort of thing.

[Louisa Bannon]

This is the possible difference...

The internet may have its faults, huge ones, but one thing it makes possible is communication between individuals the likes of which the world has never seen. And while they, the powers that be, keep trying to cage us into protest zones and censoring us online, or even by trying to stop net neutrality...I remain hopeful that the internet will continue by a variety of means that will simply mean that each and every attempt to control this level of communication will be routed around as anathema to a free people eager to share ideas.

Whether its the reveal That War is a Racket...
Or the Pentagon Papers...
Or Watergate...
Or the Chicago 8...
Or Cointelpro...
Or Project MKUltra...
Or the Iran-Contra Affair...
Or the Savings and Loan Crisis...
Or Jeffrey Wigand...
Or Mark Klein...
Or Michael G. Winston...
Or Chelsea Manning...
Or Edward Snowden...
Or the Panama Papers...
Or ... ?

People might eventually wake the fuck up and and actually start using politics to make this a better world for everyone in it, and not just the few incredibly corrupt groups that are currently in control.

I don't think this will happen in my lifetime. But maybe the next couple of generations can be less tolerant of the stupid and make a change.

We are well beyond the point where "gentlemen must agree to disagree" and we are squarely at the point where some people are openly and brazenly gaming the system to their advantage and should be held to account. But how long will it take...?

[Unhinged]

Nothing will change and the rich will just keep on massing wealth. Look at how mainstream media has protrayed this. Barely even gets a mention and luckily for them a new gunman went wild. Will be forgotten quickly.

[JohnBrown1917]

Nothing will change and the rich will just keep on massing wealth. Look at how mainstream media has protrayed this. Barely even gets a mention and luckily for them a new gunman went wild. Will be forgotten quickly.

Im still in favour of bringing out the guillotines.