Global Financial Integrity

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Panama Papers Anniversary Is Opportunity to Underscore Severity of the Problem

Believe it or not, the Panama Papers scandal has an upside: it shed light on the dark corners of the international financial system. Prior to the revelation that one law firm helped establish over 200,000 anonymous companies, the casual observer knew tax evasion, corruption, and money laundering occur in the world but they didn’t know quite how it works. Now the term “anonymous shell company” has some resonance and it is in the general lexicon — even if most people still can’t explain how they work.

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Panama Papers Prove Law Enforcement Right on Beneficial Ownership

“ICE has long recognized the misuse of corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) formed under State law as a serious threat to the ongoing effort to combat international criminal activities. The lack of corporate transparency has allowed...

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Massive Leak of Secret Documents from Panamanian Firm Reveal Movement of Billions of Dollars in Suspect Transactions

Leaked documents from global law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed today by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) bring to light a global shadow financial system for the rich and powerful of the world for many billions of dollars worth of transactions, noted Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a Washington, DC-based research and advisory organization. More than 11.5 million documents implicate familiar names with abuse of financial secrecy, including UBS, HSBC, Société Générale, Cyprus, Switzerland, and the British Virgin Islands.

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New Massive Leak of Secret Documents from Bermudian Offshore Law Firm Reveals Tax Abuses and Corruption by Companies and the Global Elite

Leaked documents from Bermuda-based global offshore law firm Appleby—“Paradise Papers”—revealed today by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) bring to light again the global shadow financial system for the rich and powerful of the world. GFI Calls on Governments to Collect and Publish Beneficial Ownership Information for Accounts to Limit Future Abuses like those in the Paradise and Panama Papers Leaks.

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New Treasury Rule on Beneficial Ownership Fails to Ensure that Beneficial Owners Are Identified

GFI Calls on Congress to Take Action to Ensure that Beneficial Owners are Actually Identified at the Time of Company Formation                 

The U.S. Departments of Treasury and Justice announced a raft of measures and proposals to address critical vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system on May 5th, following actions taken by other countries in response to the Panama Papers disclosures. GFI welcomes the introduction of these measures after a four year process but urges Treasury and Justice to fix serious gaps in the requirements for identifying the beneficial owners of companies.

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DC Forum Series: The Role of the Media in Financial Transparency

On September 29, in the first of a series of conversations with global thought leaders, the DC Forum will host three acclaimed investigative journalists to discuss the role of the media in financial transparency.

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Articles

LAW.COM World’s Top Enabler of Financial Secrecy Is United States Damian Shepherd, May 17, 2022 “For individuals looking to hide their wealth, there’s no country more helpful than the United States. That’s according to research by the Tax...

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Books

**Coming January 2023** In four parts, Invisible Trillions reveals how capitalism today functions outside the control of democracy and how we can link the two once again. Acknowledging the corruption and complacency of our institutions, Raymond W. Baker walks...

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