The Washington Post: Billions Hidden Beyond Reach (October 3, 2021)

The Washington Post has made available for download their article, “Billions Hidden Beyond Reach”, which discusses the Pandora Papers. The article begins as follows:

A massive trove of private financial records shared with The Washington Post exposes vast reaches of the secretive offshore system used to hide billions of dollars from tax authorities, creditors, criminal investigators and — in 14 cases involving current country leaders — citizens around the world.
The revelations include more than $100 million spent by King Abdullah II of Jordan on luxury homes in Malibu, Calif., and other locations; millions of dollars in property and cash secretly owned by the leaders of the Czech Republic, Kenya, Ecuador and other countries; and a waterfront home in Monaco acquired by a Russian woman who gained considerable wealth after she reportedly had a child with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Other disclosures hit closer to home for U.S. officials and other Western leaders who frequently condemn smaller countries whose permissive banking systems have been exploited for decades by looters of assets and launderers of dirty money.
The files provide substantial new evidence, for example, that South Dakota now rivals notoriously opaque jurisdictions in Europe and the Caribbean in financial secrecy. Tens of millions of dollars from outside the United States are now sheltered by trust companies in Sioux Falls, some of it tied to people and companies accused of human rights abuses and other wrongdoing.
The details are contained in more than 11.9 million financial records that were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and examined by The Post and other partner news organizations. The files include private emails, secret spreadsheets, clandestine contracts and other records that unlock otherwise impenetrable financial schemes and identify the individuals behind them.

For further reading, see below articles:

BBC: Pandora Papers: King of Jordan amassed £70m secret property empire

The Washington Post: While His Country Struggles, Jordan’s King Abdullah Secretly Splurges

The Washington Post: Secret Money, Swanky Real Estate and a Monte Carlo Mystery

The Washington Post: FAQ: The World of Secret Money

The Guardian: Pandora papers: biggest ever leak of offshore data exposes financial secrets of rich and powerful

The Guardian: Tony and Cherie Blair bought property via offshore firm and saved £300,000 in tax

The Guardian: King of Jordan hidden property empire worth more than $100m, Pandora papers reveal

The Guardian: Let the light in: why the Guardian is publishing the Pandora papers

The Guardian: Pandora papers reveal hidden riches of Putin’s inner circle

The Guardian: Crown estate bought £67m London property from family of Azerbaijan ruler

The Guardian: Revealed: ‘anti-oligarch’ Ukrainian president’s offshore connections