Panama law firm used charities’ names as cloaks for clients
WASHINGTON
The Panamanian law firm at the center of a global investigation advised some clients that they could cloak their money in foundations that named as beneficiaries prominent international charities such as the Red Cross, UNICEF and the World Wildlife Fund.
There’s no sign that any money from those offshore dealings went to the charities, whose spokespeople say they had no clue they were part of Mossack Fonseca’s marketing strategy.
A massive leak of records, which came to be known as the Panama Papers, has laid bare Mossack Fonseca’s services and its clients – among them world leaders, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. In their files are two memos suggesting that clients could move their assets into so-called “private foundations” with well-known charities as their supposed beneficiary. The papers suggest that the firm took steps to create such foundations for at least 700 clients.
Nearly everyone is familiar with foundations big and small that help the poor, the environment or the animal kingdom. They are nonprofits that rely on donations. Private foundations formed in Panama, however, are quite different.
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