What I Learned From The Panama Papers

by | Apr 4, 2016 | Videos | 15 comments

The Panama Papers are out and the Panama Papers propaganda is out right along with it. So why does this new mega-leak seemingly only expose those in the State Department crosshairs or expendable others and not a single prominent American politician or businessman? And what does this have to do with the OECD’s plan for a global taxation grid? Find out more in today’s Thought For The Day with James Corbett.

SHOW NOTES:
About the Panama Papers

Süddeutsche Zeitung Panama Papers page

Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption

Panama Papers: The Power Players

Icelandic Prime Minister facing calls to resign over leaked details of offshore company

Iceland PM Refuses To Resign, Faces No Confidence Vote Following “Panama Papers” Scandal

The Panama Papers: Victims of Offshore

How to hide a billion dollars | The Panama Papers

About the ICIJ

The Economist: Panama Problem Child

OECD Common Reporting Standard

Global Tax Grid, Hemisphere Project, RFID ID – New World Next Week

G20 summit: states chase tax evaders with plan to swap data globally

15 Comments

    • I was just going to leave that bloomberg link. I’ve learned so much from all of you. As depressing as it all is – the truth does set you free.

      “I’m Penny Parker. You can remember that ’cause it’s got the same letter at the front of each name. That’s important theatrically, you know.”
      — Penny Parker, MacGyver, “Every Time She Smiles”

  1. like you said in the vid, aren’t virtually all world leaders dirty? Isn’t there some kind of terrorbalance because of that, I would imagine they all have dirt on each other. Especially a guy like Putin with a history in KGB should have tons of dirt on the other leaders. Will he retaliate or is that too much to hope for.

    • just like w and his college buddy steve schwarzman? http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/08/14/another-legacy-of-president-george-w-bush-massive-income-inequ/

      now Blackstone Group is one of our biggest land lords?

      thanks George: President Bush Signs American Dream Downpayment Act of 2003

      http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031216-9.html

      http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/business/worldbusiness/21iht-admin.4.18853088.html?_r=0
      Bush drive for home ownership fueled housing bubble

      • Yes! I can most certainly attest to the engineered US Tech Bubble. JDS Uniphase screwed us Big Time. We relocated to New Jersey a few weeks after nine eleven (hence my handle!) to get rich quick working for this company — I could write a book. We missed out by about 6 months.
        About that “last mile” — what happened? wireless instead? Why Is Google Fiber the Country’s Only Super-Speed Internet? http://www.wired.com/2013/01/google-fiber-shaming-exercise/
        I’m certainly not qualified to speak to what happened and why – but something tells me it’s not what we were told. not sure what to think now – JDS Uniphase on a Buying Spree
        by Zacks Equity Research Published on December 12, 2013
        http://www.zacks.com/stock/news/116769/jds-uniphase-on-a-buying-spree
        —————–

        I was a realtor in the 90’s – 2003 and witnessed first hand this completely engineered nightmare. When JDSU “let us go” we thought we were going to homeless — no job – how the hell are we going to buy a house back home with our severance pay running out in 2 weeks? Easy! all you need to show the mortgage co (Countrywide!) are your last 2 paystubs — they didn’t even call to verify employment. This confirmed by suspicions and My conscience got the best of me when we finally got back home and I couldn’t continue selling the American Nightmare to young, first time buyers.

        Thanks for the Princes of the Yen Link – I missed that one.

        No anti-Japan conspiracy in the TPP
        Revealing the U.S.’s true intentions
        April 16, 2012 Yoshihisa Komori
        http://jbpress.ismedia.jp/articles/-/35000

        (Now that they’ve signed on to the TPP – I’m still not convinced – but I guess that’s just me?)

        ———————–

        and Blackstone Group? so so many dots to connect here, as I’m sure you know. Looks to me like it’s “pay up” time to the Chinese. I recently spent a few hours on the beach of the Hotel del Coronado(that’s all I could afford – $100 to rent 2 chairs and an umbrella for the afternoon)the beach is pretty much a landing strip for the naval base, which I believe occupies over 50% of the island. The Navy seals “practice” there. It felt like one big invasion going on with no one even paying attention – very odd – and now……the Chinese are trying to buy it? Is it true China invested $4 billion in Blackstone prior to its IPO? what a tangled web they weave…….

        Rothschild’s and Blackstone? Oy! and the beat goes on….
        http://globalslaves.blogspot.com/2015/03/300000-wealthy-investors-collect-each.html

        • I’m afraid to open the CIA/Google link – might just put me over the edge! — Na – I guess I’ve just got to keep my sense of humor . Beginning to think the world is one big cosmic joke. For so long, I tried to keep my head on straight by repeating: Forgive them Father for they know not what they do (my Mom is an Irish Catholic Commando!) UNTIL… I came across this — which put everything into perspective for me — “Somebody” moved the word NOT around. Luke 23:24 should read: Forgive them NOT for they know what they do. Oh those Jews back in the day– a clever bunch they were.

        • Our government does nothing to stop Google under antitrust laws – What’s up with that?

          So….

          Google isn’t working with the government — Google is part of the government.

          Just like the private/investment banks, I guess.

          oh boy – now I’ve got an ear worm!

          When Saint Peter saw his face, he said,
          “Go to the other place”.
          Barney Google, with the goo-goo-goo-ga-ly eyes.

        • Thank YOU, phreedomphile – man, I love that handle! You’ve opened my eyes even wider — and in a good way — Now I’m completely convinced that I am not the crazy one!

  2. Personally I would not even class this as a leak unless the files are made public.

    File it along side the Alien Autopsy video.

  3. There may be several reasons for for the lack of American names from the papers, but it seems to me that Information Exchange agreements signed between US and Panama in 2010 made Panama unattractive as a tax heaven for Americans:

    Final text of 2010 Panama FTA: https://ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/panama-tpa/final-text

    2010 US-Panama Tax Information Exchange Agreement: https://www.oecd.org/tax/exchange-of-tax-information/46569716.pdf

    2010 US Diplomatic Note acknowledging signing of the the Exchange Agreement: https://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/tax-policy/treaties/Documents/PanamaTIEAnote.pdf

    Reuters article about the agreement: http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-tax-fatca-idUSL2N0HN15T20130927

    Although the mentioned Agreements make it unlikely that Americans would use Panama as a tax heaven after 2010, the leaks date back to the 1970s.

    As the linked Reuters article states, Panama is a notorious tax heaven, with a history of use by Americans, and that is what motivated the Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the US.

    Moreover, the ICJS investigation uncovered emails which points to purposeful deletion of documents related to American clients given that an M.F. subsidiary was under investigation in Nevada:

    “Mossack Fonseca & Co. had a problem in Vegas.

    Legal papers filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas claimed that the Panama-based law firm had created 123 companies in Nevada that had been used by a crony of Argentina’s former president to steal millions of dollars from government contracts. A subpoena demanded that Mossack Fonseca turn over details about any money that had flowed through the Nevada companies.

    Mossack Fonesca didn’t want to provide this information. For a firm that specializes in setting up hard-to-trace offshore companies for clients around the world, confidentiality is a must.

    The law firm tried to block the subpoena by denying that its Las Vegas operations, run by a company called M.F. Corporate Services (Nevada) Limited, were part of the Mossack Fonseca group.

    The firm’s Panama-based co-founder, Jürgen Mossack, testified under oath that “MF Nevada and Mossack Fonseca do not have a parent-subsidiary relationship nor does Mossack Fonseca control the internal affairs or daily operations of MF Nevada’s business.”

    But secret records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners raise new doubts over that sworn testimony.

    A sign for MF Corporate Services outside a buisness complex in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: McClatchy / Ronda Churchill
    Not only do they show that the Nevada subsidiary was wholly owned by Mossack Fonseca but that, behind the scenes, the firm took steps to wipe potentially damaging records from phones and computers to keep details of their clients from the United States justice system.

    One email from 2014, for instance, instructs that any link between Mossack Fonseca’s central computing system in Panama and the Nevada office “has to be obscure to the investigators.” Other emails report that IT operatives working via remote control from Panama “tried to clean the logs of the PC’s in the Nevada office” and planned to run a “remote session to eliminate the traces of direct access to our CIS” — the firm’s computer information system.

    The documents even show that a firm employee traveled from Panama to Vegas to whisk paper documents out of the country. “When Andrés came to Nevada he cleaned up everything and brought all documents to Panama,” a Sept. 24, 2014 email said.

    In comments to ICIJ, Mossack Fonseca “categorically” denied hiding or destroying documents that might be used in an ongoing investigation or litigation.”

    https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-mossack-fonseca-offshore-secrets.html

    Given the 2010 Tax Information Exchange Agreement they may have cleaned the Panama office of all American records as well.

    So rather than a lack of names because of a lack of interest given the US- Panamanian relationship, it seems there’s a lack of names either because the evidence was deleted or the ICIJ is not disclosing it. Yet.

  4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/unaoil-citibank-hsbc_us_56feba02e4b0daf53aefa1da

    Interesting that this Unaoil leak above was almost completely buried (in the UK, by everyone except the Guardian as far as I can see), and yet the Panama Papers story is all the media will blurt about now. The timing on their release impeccably buried how serious that story is.

    However the Panama Papers just stink of…

    Problem – evil NATO non-allies and enemies hiding their untaxed income;
    Reaction – let’s set up a friendly organisation to help us against these evil non-Anglo Saxons;
    Solution – that tracks and can control every penny, including yours.

  5. Yet another masterpiece James; you’re getting better by the day and you were already brilliant to begin. Where would the world be w/o real reporting like this… all be stuck listening to the RMSM and their shills. And thank you for the scholarly tepid delivery which most truth seekers struggle to find, glued to subverted melodramatic CIA shill broadcasts posing as alternative media.

    I’ve nothing to add to masterpiece; I can only reiterate the commentary of other subscribers and agree that this ‘leak’ 1) isn’t full disclosure and 2) names none of the biggest criminals of centuries-long bloodlines and their crowned representatives in positions of the ever-illusive power.

    I particularly agree with the sinking ship/rat theory. I actually recycled for such a time as this – to see them tear each other apart; to crumble from within. The ISIS mantra, ‘thru deception we wage war’ seems fitting b/c the grand deceiver is being sold out, like rats on a sinking ship. Evil sows within itself the seeds of its own destruction; it’s the only way evil can be destroyed, with exposure using its own tactics of subversion and assassination, be that political, financial, character or otherwise.

    James: While we’re on the subject of missing info. What has or will become of the alleged 7TB of info Snowden took from the NSA? Will he disclose all eventually? Or is there no safe place on earth from which to do this, Russia included? Assange, too, apparently has more to disclose, but he’s a little further in the beast’s belly, if indeed, he still is in London at the EC embassy. Would be great to see a broadcast on all the missing pieces, who’s holding onto them and why. At some point there will be a tribunal, and not in The Hague either.

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