RichieLeaks: Massive Document Dump Exposes Identities of Anonymous Offshore Accounts
If you're a rich person hiding your money from the taxman on a tiny island nation, you'd better call your bank. (Also: fuck you.) A massive trove of documents has exposed the offshore holdings of hundreds of individuals and companies from around the world—revealing, in detail, the secret means by which the rich and powerful store and hide their wealth. Over the last year, dozens of journalists working with the internation Consortium of Investigative Journalists and publications from around the world have been analyzing millions of emails, statements and other records in an attempt to untangle the complicated knot of payments and transfers that make up the estimated $20-trillion offshore finance industry. "Government officials and their families and associates in Azerbaijan, Russia, Canada, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Canada, Mongolia and other countries have embraced the use of covert companies and bank accounts," ICIJ writes in its "key findings." Among the names in the documents: Jean-Jacques Augier, an aide and confidante to French President François Hollande; the former finance minister of Mongolia; the president of Azerbaijan; the wife of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov; the husband of Canadian Senator Pana Merchant; the daughter of Ferdinand Marcos—and our old friend Denise Rich. ICIJ's placed its preliminary findings up here. [ICIJ, The Guardian, Der Spiegel]