Showing posts with label Panama Papers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Panama Papers. Show all posts

20160407

Wiki: Jürgen Mossack



Early life[edit source | edit]

Mossack was born in Fürth, Bavaria, Germany on 20 March 1948.[1] His father Erhard Mossack was a Rottenführer (senior corporal) in the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of the Nazi Party's Schutzstaffel, during World War II. According to U.S. intelligence files, he offered to spy for the Americans. His father moved to Panama with his family in the early 1960s, where he offered his services to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), spying on Communist activity in nearby Cuba.[2][3] In 2016, Germany's Federal Intelligence Service, when contacted by journalists, said they had documents relating to Erhard Mossack but would not share any information, owing to possible security risks.[4][5]

Mossack received a bachelor's degree in Law from Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua in 1973.[2][6]

Career[edit source | edit]

In 1975, Mossack worked as a lawyer in London before returning to Panama to start a firm in 1977. Mossack’s practice only became Mossack Fonseca in 1986, when it merged with the tiny firm run by Ramón Fonseca Mora, a Panamanian novelist, lawyer, and politician.[2][4]

Mossack served on Conarex, Panama’s council on foreign relations, from 2009 to 2014.[2]

In April 2016, leaked documents from the company's private archive, dubbed the "Panama Papers", revealed detailed information on more than 214,000 offshore companies, including the identities of shareholders and directors. Mossack is a member of IBA[specify] ; STEP;[specify] Panama Bar Association; International Maritime Association; and the Maritime National Association.[6]

Mossack’s holdings, according to the files obtained by ICIJ, include a teak plantation and other real estate, an executive helicopter, a yacht named Rex Maris and a collection of gold coins.[2]

Personal life[edit source | edit]

Mossack has two daughters, Andrea and Nicole, who have been covered in the Panamanian press since at least 2003 for showjumping.[7][8]

Mossack is a member of the prestigious Club Union, where his daughter Nicole made her debut in 2008.[9] She is married to Tomás Altamirano[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jürgen_Mossack

20160403

#PanamaPapers explained

What you need to know about the Panama Papers

What is Mossack Fonseca?

It is a Panama-based law firm whose services include incorporating companies in offshore jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands. It administers offshore firms for a yearly fee. Other services include wealth management.

Where is it based?
The firm is Panamanian but runs a worldwide operation. Its website boasts of a global network with 600 people working in 42 countries. It has franchises around the world, where separately owned affiliates sign up new customers and have exclusive rights to use its brand. Mossack Fonseca operates in tax havensincluding Switzerland, Cyprus and the British Virgin Islands, and in the British crown dependencies Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

How big is it?
Mossack Fonseca is the world’s fourth biggest provider of offshore services. It has acted for more than 300,000 companies. There is a strong UK connection. More than half of the companies are registered in British-administered tax havens, as well as in the UK itself.

How much data has been leaked?
A lot. The leak is one of the biggest ever – larger than the US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks in 2010, and the secret intelligence documents given to journalists by Edward Snowden in 2013. There are 11.5m documents and 2.6 terabytes of information drawn from Mossack Fonseca’s internal database...

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-panama-papers