Firm behind tax havens closes its offshore offices
U.S. operations also in doubt as Mossack Fonseca leaves Jersey, Gibraltar, Isle of Man
The law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers data leak has shuttered offices in three prominent tax havens after its clients’ offshore dealings were exposed by the biggestever collaboration of investigative journalists, including the Star.
Mossack Fonseca announced on Twitter last week that it had shut down its offices in Jersey, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, three tax havens where the firm incorporated anonymous companies and opened offshore bank accounts for its clients.
“This decision has been taken with great regret, as Mossack Fonseca has had a presence in these locations for more than 20 years,” the firm wrote.
Two months after the publication of the first reports based on the massive leak of Mossack Fonseca’s internal records, its web of international offices, which once numbered more than 40, has begun to unravel.
Police have conducted raids and seized computers at the firm’s offices in Panama, El Salvador and Peru.
In the U.S, Mossack Fonseca’s presence may not last much longer. Last week, MF Corporate Services, based in Las Vegas, resigned as the agent for more than 1,000 companies it administered there and paid the maximum $10,000 (U.S.) fine for failing to keep legally required records.
Mossack Fonseca’s local business partner in Wyoming also cut ties last week, leaving the firm 60 days to find a new registered agent in the state or face dissolution.
In the British Virgin Islands, local financial authorities fined the firm $31,500 last month, though Mossack Fonseca said the penalty was not related to the Panama Papers leak.
In Panama, the firm has liquidated its financial services arm and applied for a cancellation of its licence.
A dozen current world leaders and more than 120 other politicians and officials were clients of the firm and have been named in hundreds of stories published by partners of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, including the Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde and the Miami Herald. The Prime Minister of Iceland was forced to resign, while U.K. PM David Cameron admitted to having profited from his father’s offshore investments.
Mossack Fonseca did not respond to a request for comment, but has been tweeting its response to reports that show the firm did not keep legally required records on its clients and continued to do business with them once allegations of wrongdoing surfaced.
“Mossack Fonseca is a legal and professional services firm. We do not advise clients on how to operate their businesses,” the firm tweeted last month. “We don’t take possession of clients’ money, or otherwise have anything to do with any of the direct financial aspects of these businesses.”