Welcome back!
Since we first began publishing the Pandora Papers, we’ve brought you investigation after investigation on the United States’ role as a rising destination for hidden wealth, rivaling or surpassing the financial secrecy offered in overseas tax havens.
Our reporting has zeroed in on a booming American trust industry that’s drawn the assets of oligarchs, politicians, alleged criminals, scammers and more.
Today, transparency advocates echoed our findings in a new report that highlights the United States’ and other Western democracies’ disproportionate role in fueling global financial secrecy.
The U.S. took the top spot in the Tax Justice Network’s biennial financial secrecy index, surpassing notorious tax havens like Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
TJN pointed out lax trust laws and wealthy G-7 countries, who are meeting this week in Germany, for hindering global progress on financial transparency, urging the importance of beneficial ownership databases in enforcing sanctions and curbing international money laundering.
And it’s not just advocates making the call. Some U.S. lawmakers are pressing the Treasury to expedite creating a corporate ownership registry that’s behind schedule.
“These delays … undermine American efforts to respond to Russia’s war against Ukraine, and hinder broader efforts to protect the U.S. financial system against the threat of illicit finance,” a bipartisan group of senators said in a letter to Treasury officials last week.
TRUSTS TARGETED
Trust companies and corporate service providers were singled out for the first time in new U.S. sanctions, as stateside financial transparency proposals see opposition from the industry.
DEADLINE CLUB AWARD
The Pandora Papers won the Daniel Pearl Prize for Investigative Reporting and a Deadline Club award for Business Investigative Reporting. "These journalists have forever made their mark with dogged reporting that produced powerful results," judges said.
SEE YOU AT DATAHARVEST!
ICIJ will be at the European Investigative Journalism Conference in Belgium this week! Data team members Karrie Kehoe, Delphine Reuter and Jelena Cosic will be speaking about the Pandora Papers along with our chief technology officer Pierre Romera on Friday, May 20. Pierre will also be speaking on a panel about collaboration tools on Saturday, May 21.
Thanks for reading!
Asraa Mustufa
ICIJ's digital editor
P.S. If you've enjoyed our coverage this week, remember to tell your friends and family and share our work on social media. Send them an email now!
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