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Secrecy for Sale: Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze
http://www.icij.org/offshorePublisher: ICIJ Year Published: 2013 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX15433 Big players are taking unprecedented steps to stop offshore abuses, but financial crime fighters worry reforms don’t go far enough. Abstract: - Key Findings: * Millions of leaked files from two financial service providers, a private bank in Jersey and the Bahamas corporate registry reveal how tax havens around the world are used to hide riches. *Government officials and their families and associates in China, Azerbaijan, Russia, Canada, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia and other countries have embraced the use of covert companies and bank accounts. * The mega-rich use complex offshore structures to own mansions, yachts, art masterpieces and other assets, gaining tax advantages and anonymity not available to average people. * Many of the world's top banks -- including UBS, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank -- have aggressively worked to provide their customers with secrecy-cloaked companies in the British Virgin Islands and other offshore hideaways. * A well-paid industry of accountants, middlemen and other operatives has helped offshore patrons shroud their identities and business interests, providing shelter in many cases to money laundering or other misconduct. * Ponzi schemers and other large-scale fraudsters routinely use offshore havens to pull off their shell games and move their ill-gotten gains. Subject Headings |