The Panama Papers have set off a firestorm as critics of international banking seized on the revelations of huge offshore cash stashes as evidence the system is broken. While there is much truth to those accusations, the use of offshore accounts to provide privacy and asset protection is largely legal and used by a wide variety of individuals. Some of those individuals that have been revealed include a number of celebrities such as Simon Cowell, the creator of programs like American Idol, and the children of legendary director Stanley Kubrick who transferred ownership of his large home in England to an offshore entity. As more revelations emerge about those with large overseas portfolios the public pressure is likely to increase on governments to take action to curb the behavior, be it legal or illegal. While the majority of foreign business transactions are on the up and up, popular anger has been building against those who seek extreme privacy financially, particularly as the rest of the world is subject to increased monitoring with little ability to avoid it. But it will only be in the coming months the impact of the revelations out of Panama shall be fully understood.
See, From Kubrick to Cowell: Panama Papers expose offshore dealings of the stars, The Guardian, April 6, 2016.
Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
