In 2017 a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer from the newspaper newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The leak would become known as The Paradise Papers.
The newspaper shared the documents with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (McClatchy partners in DC), and a network of more than 380 journalists. .
The docs originated from the legal firm Appleby, the corporate services providers Estera and Asiaciti Trust, and business registries in 19 tax jurisdictions. They contain the names of more than 120,000 people & companies. The trove of 13.4 million records also exposed ties between Russia & Trump.
One offshore web led to Trump’s former commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, who had a stake in a shipping company that had received more than $68M since 2014 from a Russian energy company co-owned by Putin's son-in-law.
In all, more than a dozen Trump first term advisers, Cabinet members and major donors appear in the leaked offshore data. Included in that data is 500 pages detailing the activities of an Epstein offshore vehicle in the Bermuda-founded offshore services provider Appleby.
Was on this site for hours last night and the article about Wyoming is a must read. Alot of fraud COVID loans and how town is new money laundering hotspot. Offshore banking is old news
The documents show that by the mid-2000s Epstein’s firm had started working with Appleby. From at least 2000 to 2007, Epstein chaired a company registered in Bermuda called Liquid Funding Ltd. The entity was partially owned by the investment bank Bear Stearns, where Epstein had worked.
Epstein’s offshore company was loaded up with mortgage-backed securities and collateralized loan obligations — that would become synonymous with the financial excesses leading to the financial crisis.
The three main credit rating agencies — Standard & Poor’s, Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service — all helped Bear Stearns create the securities in a way that would allow the creative bundling to get a gold-plated AAA rating. The creative bundling of a child rapist and sex trafficker.
McClatchy reporters were able to reach one director, Marcus Klug, listed in the leaked documents as helping administer Epstein’s offshore vehicle. The company, of course, was a shell & its directorship duties pro forma. There was never a board meeting or a call between board members,” Klug said.
Trump, Maxwell, and Epstein, in the Paradise Papers 📌
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Follow the Appleby money. Epstein and Trump were both tied to it at the same time.
@stuartsyvret.bsky.social 👀
@gregolear.bsky.social
@weeklyshowpodcast.bsky.social & @colbertlateshow.bsky.social & @stephencolbert & @jonstewartdaily.bsky.social please shine your spotlight on The Paradise Papers! And please encourage the world to believe the victims who have already courageously spoken out about #Epstein and #PresidentCaligula.
