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Panama Papers and Chess
April 6, 2016
(Wikipedia) - The Panama Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, including the identities of shareholders and directors of the companies. The documents show how wealthy individuals, including public officials, hide their money from public scrutiny.
(The Guardian) - There is nothing illegal about moving money offshore. To begin with, during the 1970s it was a way of moving cash around at a time of widespread currency controls across Europe.
Buying and selling dollars, for instance, was much easier for banks if the trades were done offshore. If you lived in a country where a corrupt or predatory government might seize your assets, then moving your wealth offshore to protect it also made sense.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016...dealings-stars
________
(The New Yorker) - (Banking havens like Panama’s also exist in the Caribbean quasi-nation of Grand Cayman; on the island of Jersey and the Isle of Man; in the Pyrenean sub-nation of Andorra; and in several other aeries around the world. Perhaps the most famous, and possibly most lucrative, offshore bank of all is the nation of Switzerland.)
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-d...d-most-popular
The Guardian article cited above and dated April 6, 2016, goes on to mention several wealthy and well-known individuals who have had dealings through companies provided by Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the data leak. There is nothing to suggest that any of those named below sheltered, or sought to shelter, money or assets offshore to avoid tax or for any unlawful purpose.
These include Simon Cowell, Stanley Kubrick, Sarah Ferguson, Jackie Chan and Bobby Fischer.
“The American chess grandmaster was granted power of attorney over a company called Kettering Consultants Inc in October 2007. It gave him the ability to control the Panama-based company, which was managed by Landsbanki Luxembourg SA.”
“In 1992, he played a $5m (£3.5m) rematch against Spassky in the former Yugoslavia. At the time, Yugoslavia was subject to sanctions, and Americans were barred from doing any business in the country. The US government warned Fischer that he could face a $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison. At a press conference in the run-up to the rematch, Fischer defiantly announced that he had not paid any taxes since 1976. He was indicted and never returned to the US.”
(He died in Iceland) “in 2008, three months after being given power of attorney over Kettering Consultants. The company was “owned” by four bearer shareholders, which gave it an extra degree of secrecy. The company was shut down in 2012.”
April 6, 2016
(Wikipedia) - The Panama Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, including the identities of shareholders and directors of the companies. The documents show how wealthy individuals, including public officials, hide their money from public scrutiny.
(The Guardian) - There is nothing illegal about moving money offshore. To begin with, during the 1970s it was a way of moving cash around at a time of widespread currency controls across Europe.
Buying and selling dollars, for instance, was much easier for banks if the trades were done offshore. If you lived in a country where a corrupt or predatory government might seize your assets, then moving your wealth offshore to protect it also made sense.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016...dealings-stars
________
(The New Yorker) - (Banking havens like Panama’s also exist in the Caribbean quasi-nation of Grand Cayman; on the island of Jersey and the Isle of Man; in the Pyrenean sub-nation of Andorra; and in several other aeries around the world. Perhaps the most famous, and possibly most lucrative, offshore bank of all is the nation of Switzerland.)
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-d...d-most-popular
The Guardian article cited above and dated April 6, 2016, goes on to mention several wealthy and well-known individuals who have had dealings through companies provided by Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the data leak. There is nothing to suggest that any of those named below sheltered, or sought to shelter, money or assets offshore to avoid tax or for any unlawful purpose.
These include Simon Cowell, Stanley Kubrick, Sarah Ferguson, Jackie Chan and Bobby Fischer.
“The American chess grandmaster was granted power of attorney over a company called Kettering Consultants Inc in October 2007. It gave him the ability to control the Panama-based company, which was managed by Landsbanki Luxembourg SA.”
“In 1992, he played a $5m (£3.5m) rematch against Spassky in the former Yugoslavia. At the time, Yugoslavia was subject to sanctions, and Americans were barred from doing any business in the country. The US government warned Fischer that he could face a $250,000 fine and 10 years in prison. At a press conference in the run-up to the rematch, Fischer defiantly announced that he had not paid any taxes since 1976. He was indicted and never returned to the US.”
(He died in Iceland) “in 2008, three months after being given power of attorney over Kettering Consultants. The company was “owned” by four bearer shareholders, which gave it an extra degree of secrecy. The company was shut down in 2012.”
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