Reuters reports that the U.S. Treasury Department has accelerated plans to issue a long-stalled rule "forcing banks to seek the identities of people behind shell-company account holders."
In mid-2014, Treasury's anti-money laundering unit, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), issued a proposed rule on beneficial ownership. Differences of opinion between the various financial regulators vetting the rule and an obligatory analysis of costs to industry has slowed the process, as has pushback from the banking industry.
The FinCEN rule is expected to require only that banks and brokerage firms request information from customers regarding beneficial owners, but not require them to verify that information through investigation.
USA Today found a Mossack Fonseca partner company in a tiny office in the center of Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Within that suite, however, is yet another company: AAA Corporate Services Inc., which serves as M.F. Corporate Services Wyoming LLC's registered agent, according to state records. Under Wyoming law, any business established in the state must have a physical presence to receive legal papers and other documents.
Wednesday, inside AAA Corporate Services' second-floor office, stacks of hand-addressed envelopes sat neatly on general manager Linda Gaynor's desk, awaiting the afternoon mail pickup.
Gaynor acknowledged her company serves as an agent for many out-of-state companies but declined further comment.
This hard-hitting op-ed on The Guardian website gives voice to some of the outrage that people in the United States feel reading about the Panama leak, considering the country has been debating for ages whether it can afford infrastructure repair or raising the minimum wage.
But while working and middle-class families pay their taxes or face consequences, the Panama Papers remind us that the worst of the 1% have, for years, essentially been stealing access to Americans’ common birthright, and to the benefits of our shared endeavors.
Worse, many of those same global elite have argued that we cannot afford to provide education, healthcare or a basic standard of living for all, much less eradicate poverty or dramatically enhance the social safety net by guaranteeing every American a subsistence-level income.
Here is the video of part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's response on April 7 to a question about the Panama leak's allegations of personal corruption and corruption among his senior officials, with English subtitles:
RFE/RL's senior Russia analyst Brian Whitmore devoted his regular Daily Vertical video commentary to the Panama papers and how they are being played -- or ignored -- in Russia:
The Panama papers continue to rock the government of British Prime Minister David Cameron. One of those implicated in possible tax evasion by the leak is the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne. This tweet of his from 2014 is making the rounds again now, reminding us again that the Internet never forgets:
The HuffPost has a round-up of what people are doing with this tweet.
ICYMI, this April 4 piece from The New York Times public editor, Margaret Sullivan, is interesting. She talks about why the Times was not part of the consortium of journalists that broke the leaks story and why it has been so slow to produce its own stories.
Writing in Salon, Andrew O'Hehir adds that perhaps the Times was not invited to the party because "the Gray lady has a long and tormented relationship to the powers of big government and big capital, which largely speaks for itself."
Vice has a rundown of the conspiracy theories generated by the Panama leak so far, for those who refuse to face the fact that it is about corruption, money laundering, and unethical tax evasion.
In responding to questions about cellist Sergei Roldugin, who was named in the Panama papers, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised his friend for having spent "nearly all the money he has earned on buying musical instruments abroad and bringing them to Russia."
This remark inspired the newspaper Vedomosti to look at Russian customs records on the import of musical instruments and create an illustrative photogallery.
In 2015, Russia legally imported musical instruments worth $48.1 million (less than 1/40th of the sum exposed by the Panama papers), including 40,000 digital pianos worth $13.2 million and nearly 300,000 acoustic guitars worth $11. The country also imported nearly 4,000 accordions and almost 54,000 harmonicas.
Opposition politician and anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny was far more direct in his response to Putin's assert that he is "proud" of people like Roldugin. He says the documents clearly show Roldugin's offshore firm spent its money speculating in shares in state-owned Russian companies, often selling and buying the same shares within days at significantly inflated prices. As for Putin's comments, Navalny says:
He is a monstrous liar. A thief and a liar. And the people sitting around this lying thief are nodding their heads: Yes, yes. He spent all the money on musical instruments.
Navalny also wrote a post examining state purchases of musical instruments for the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg and found that all of them were paid for by budgetary funds. He adds that his researchers have not been able to find a single media reference to any program involving Roldugin to import and donate musical instruments in Russia.
Russia's independent Dozhd TV made a short video (in Russian) also making fun of how many musical instruments could have been imported for such money:
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi commented on the Panama leak at a press conference in Beijing on April 8, but didn't hold out much hope for a real investigation:
"China is currently continuing its fight against corruption," Wang said. "Just as our leader has said -- the fight against corruption is a constant journey. As to the so-called documents you are referring to, we have noted that Panama is producing some explanations and clarifications. I'm afraid we first must receive clarifications and understand what it really is all about."
And this article discusses how Chinese government efforts to restrict access to information about the Panama papers.
China has moved to limit local access to coverage of the matter with state media denouncing Western reporting on the leak as biased against non-Western leaders.
Searches for the word “Panama” on Chinese search engines bring up stories in Chinese media on the topic, but many of the links have been disabled or only open onto stories about allegations directed at sports stars.
Searches for “Panama Papers” in Chinese bring up a warning that the results “may not accord with relevant laws and rules so can’t be shown."