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We previously posted Mossack Fonseca Affected Taxpayers with Potential Exposure Should Consult with Counsel To Consider Their Legal Options Now! where we discussed that on May 6, 2016 the ICIJ announced that the unknown source behind a leak of 11.5 million financial and legal documents regarding shell companies from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca has offered to provide the same documents to governments that he gave to a team of reporters.  

Now the law firm at the heart of the Panama Papers revelations has decided to close its offices in the British-dependent territories of Jersey, Isle of Man and Gibraltar.

The firm Mossack Fonseca said that it will consolidate its branch and service office network following the Panama Papers leak in April, which revealed how Mossack Fonseca helped clients, including world leaders such as Argentine President Mauricio Macri and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to establish anonymous shell companies.

Mossack Fonseca "will be ceasing operations" in those territories, "but we will continue serving all of our clients", it said. "This decision has been taken with great regret, as Mossack Fonseca has had a presence in these locations for more than 20 years," the Panama-based law firm added. The office closures were part of a strategy to "consolidate our service office network," it said.

More than two thousand entities were linked to Gibraltar in the “Panama Papers” online database; however, in a disclaimer, its publishers, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, stressed there are legitimate uses for offshore companies, with no implication of wrongdoing.

Data from the leaked files ranked the U.K. as the country with the largest number of links to offshore firms. Some 17,963 of the 214,000 shell companies listed in the report can be traced to Britain, compared with 6,254 shell companies with links to the U.S., according to the data.

Even when only a subset of the stolen documents are publicized, the DOJ can often obtain additional, nonpublic material through grand jury subpoenas served on the entities or individuals that now possess the stolen files or through mutual legal assistance treaties to foreign authorities. 

This raises the question of whether U.S. government investigators are able to make use of these "Privileged Materials" that appear to have been hacked from Mossack Fonseca, an overseas law firm?

 

Any arguments to preserve privilege should be presented as promptly as reasonably possible to minimize the potential for a judicial finding of waiver of privilege.

 

It may take months or even years for the full implications of such leaks to be clear, but for those who anticipate potential legal exposure, the time for them to assess their legal options is now.

 

All U.S. Taxpayers with

"Unreported Income" or "Money"

in Offshore Accounts

Need To Come Clean NOW

BEFORE Their Illegal Activity is Identified! 

 

 

 Want to Know which OVDP Program
is Right for You?

 

Contact the Tax Lawyers at 

Marini& Associates, P.A.  

 

for a FREE Tax Consultation

at: www.TaxAid.us or www.TaxLaw.ms or

Toll Free at 888-8TaxAid (888) 882-9243

Sources

GBC

Law360

The Business Reporter

We previously posted UK lists 40 Countries That Agree to Automatically Exchange of Beneficial Ownership Information where we discussed that the UK government has released a list of jurisdictions it says have committed to its initiative for automatic exchange of beneficial ownership information. The list includes the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Jersey, but not Guernsey or the British Virgin Islands, though Afghanistan and Nigeria are on the list.

However subsequent to this meeting, The Cayman Islands has indicated that it will not adopt a mechanism for the exchange of beneficial ownership data that is not implemented by the United States. Speaking at a press conference on May 17, 2016, Premier Alden McLaughlin called for a level playing field in terms of financial transparency and stated that a standard without U.S. participation “is not a global standard.”

While acknowledging that the Cayman’s participated in the summit which was predicated on it joining an initiative for the automatic exchange of beneficial ownership data; this initiative of 40 countries aims to develop a global standard for the automatic exchange of beneficial ownership data between law enforcement agencies and tax authorities of the partner countries; however he insisted that it must be done on a 'level playing field', and that Cayman has merely agreed to 'participate in the global discussion that will lead to the development of such a mechanism'.

Even when implemented, it is far from certain that all OECD and G-20 countries are going to adopt it. Although represented at the summit by secretary of state John Kerry, the US advised that it was not in a position to even sign the summit communique, which outlined the steps needed to combat corruption as agreed by attendees.

Cayman Islands’ financial services minister Wayne Panton criticized the hypocritical stance of the US in singling out overseas territories for a lack of transparency.

Referring to a 2008 comment by president Barrack Obama that a single address in the Cayman Islands “supposedly houses 12,000 corporations”, Panton pointed to the US state of Delaware where one address alone reportedly has 285,000 companies registered there.  

The Cayman Islands also announced that it will repeal its Confidential Relationships (Preservation) Law, commonly known as the ‘secrecy law’, by September 2016. In addition, the government has passed legislation that completely abolishes the use of bearer shares, which can be used to conceal the identities of beneficial owners. Bearer shares were immobilized in 2000.

Sources:
Cayman Compass
Cayman Islands Government

The UK government has released a list of jurisdictions it says have committed to its initiative for automatic exchange of beneficial ownership information. The list includes the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Jersey, but not Guernsey or the British Virgin Islands, though Afghanistan and Nigeria are on the list.
 
Since the unveiling of the new agreement at the IMF meeting in April 2016, more countries have committed to the initiative to share detailed data on beneficial ownership.

The following countries have committed to the initiative to automatically exchange information on beneficial ownership:
 

 
The U.S. is not one of the 40 countries on this list?