If you liked the Panama Papers, you’ll love the Paradise Papers! If you want to hide your millions from taxation, just find a willing offshore haven to make your megabucks disappear into a maze of shell corporations. It’s your money, after all, let the little people worry about building their silly public roads and funding their icky health care! (But we better shove a gigantic corporate tax through the U.S. Congress, just in case an offshore tax rate of, say, zero, is too high.)
Over 380 journalists dug through millions of documents and began releasing what they found this week. Turns out Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross profited from business dealings with Putin’s son-in-law and a Russian oligarch under sanction. Oops, he forgot to mention that on his disclosure forms! There are loads of revelations in these stories— the more you dig, the more you’ll discover.
Robert Mercer funded Trump’s campaign and Steve Bannon’s “America First” crusade with cash stashed offshore in Bermuda. (Some Democratic funders and lefty celebrities are mentioned throughout the Panama Papers as well.) Oh, and Apple doesn’t stash their money on a Caribbean island, turns out they hide their offshore dough on a tiny island in the English Channel. Be sure to dig into this reporting, it’s fascinating stuff.