The Paradise Papers: Unveiling The Shady Finances Of The Globe's Elite

Exposing the wealthy and powerful's exploitation of legality for massive personal revenue

Recently, there has been a massive leak of more than 13 million financial documents known as The Paradise Papers. The papers exposed financial transactions of corporations and the world's elite that have been shrouded and kept secret for years. These include cases of major tax evasion via the funneling of cash into secretive offshore accounts. According to the BBC News, it is estimated that these offshore centers contain a total of $10 trillion, an unfathomable monetary quantity greater than the economic output of somecountries.

The Paradise Papers were acquired bySüddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper.The leak reveals how the world's top-dogs regularly evade taxes and regulations for their own enormous personal gain–and also get off scot free.

More than 100 wealthy and powerful individuals were highlighted in the Paradise Papers, including figures such as Queen Elizabeth of England; the chief fundraiser of Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau; and President Donald Trump's U.S Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross.

Appleby is a law firm that is at the epicenter of the leaked documents and one with which Ross has deep connections. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the billionaire Wall Street investor's private equity firm, W.L. Ross & Co, LLC was in time involved with Appleby. The ICIJ states, "Ross divested himself of most of his business interests when he joined the Trump Cabinet in February 2017. But, as Appleby's files and public records show, he kept a stake in the shipping company, Navigator Holdings, through a chain of companies in the Cayman Islands."

According to reporter Jon Swaine of "The Guardian", Ross's investments into Navigator relate directly to Russian President, Vladimir Putin's son-in-law."Navigator is paid about $20 million a year to ship gas out of Russia for a Russian company named Sibur. And Sibur is co-owned by Putin's son-in-law, Kirill Shamalov."

Ross countered on an interview with BBC that, "There is nothing whatsoever improper about Navigator having a relationship with Sibur," further stating that sanctions played no role when the deal was formulated. According to Swaine, Ross's investment into Sibur produced major revenue: "Navigator's brought in about $68 million in revenue since 2014 from the deal. The contract is worth at least $200 million a year, and it's scheduled to continue for about a decade." In light of the deal, and in his defense, Ross stated, "The fact that it happens to be called a Russian company does not mean that there's any evil in it."

Appleby countered reports, stating, "The journalists do not allege, nor could they, that Appleby has done anything unlawful. There is no wrongdoing. It is a patchwork built of unrelated allegations with a clear political agenda and movement against offshore." Appleby continued, "We wish to reiterate that our firm was not the subject of a leak, but of a serious criminal act. This was an illegal computer hack."

On the topic of offshore accounts and wrongdoing, the ICIJ stated that there are "legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. We do not intend to suggest or imply that any people, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly."

In addition to Ross and Shalamov, Facebook and Twitter are also entwined with Russia in a blanket of money. The companies are said to have made tremendous gains as a result of investments made by "two Russian, government-owned firms, known as vehicles, for the Kremlin's politically sensitive dealings." According to the news site "Reveal," these investments were utilized to purchase early stakes within both social media giants. After Facebook and Twitter's stocks went active, more than $1 billion dollars in revenue was generated. Interestingly, this news appears in light of the recent event that Russia tried to manipulate social media in 2016 to influence U.S. elections.

In a compendium of financial documents dating all the way back to 1950, the Paradise Papers have been able to connect seemingly unrelated dots into a massive network that spans the globe. They have revealed how the elite have been secretly exploiting loopholes in legality for their own massive benefit.