Discover Top Posts Tagged with #29leaks

Interview with Rod Webber about Barrett Brown

Start of DM history with Rob Webber:

I'm not looking for a written piece. I make documentaries-- But, if there was something marketable, we are able to bring people on as producers.

Apr 6, 2022, 11:48 AM

You accepted the request

You should do a documentary about Sylvia Mann. I liked her back when she was doing Laurie Love prison support work. Now she’s some kind of unpaid crisis communicator for a con artist. Interesting arc, that one.

#journalism #29Leaks #England

Massive Document Leak Reveals Global Network of Money Laundering and Fraud

A family-owned company in Britain is operating a global network of businesses hiding money for fraudsters, criminals, and ultra-rich ass****, according to a massive treasure trove of data leaked to media. (THAT’S RIGHT. WE GOTTA ANOTHER LEAK FOLKS!)

The #29Leaks contain 15 years of documents, data, and phone records from the London-based company/fraud mill Formations House. (Don’t you love it when criminals meticulously document their crimes?)

Journalists first got their grubby little muckrakers on the leaks back in July. But it’s taken this long to even make a dent in the more than 100GB of data. The first articles on the leaks went live at midnight last night (*lightning crash, werewolf howl, sound of journalist vaping*) and detailed more than $300 million of fraud linked to Formations House.

According to the leak, this adorable little family-run business operates as a one-stop-shop for fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion (which is very convenient if you’re into that sort of thing).

The company’s illustrious clients included such prestigious figures as an African dictator, a fake Gambian bank, a Hell’s Angels boss, the Italian mob, and no this is not the setup to a joke.

And that’s only the tip of the griftberg. Over the years, Formation House has churned out more than 400,000 companies for grifters, fraudsters, and organised criminals around the globe.

"In only a matter of days, a client could purchase offshore companies bundled into packages touting minimal compliance requirements, tax-free operations, and anonymity for directors and shareholders,” said Burkhart Pursuance Project Outreach Director Annalise Burkhart, who led the global collective of journalists in the investigation.

Basically, if you have a fun and very illegal racket going on, Formations House wants in. (Hey, if you need to create a shadow corporation or autonomous financial region in your backyard, I would definitely give ‘em a call. They are still open for business.)

Oh yeah, I almost forgot the best part. Now we now know exactly how Iran has been sidestepping U.S. sanctions to sell its oil.

According to the #29Leaks (we need a better name for this. its fine but it’s no “Panama Papers,” that’s for sure), Iran’s national oil company NICO hopscotches across the globe from tax-haven to tax-haven.

With the help of its Swiss partner-firm, Naftiran Intertrade Co (Sàrl), NICO has repeatedly switched homes for more than a decade, attempting to circumvent international sanctions aimed at halting Iran’s development of nuclear weapons (because the last thing we need is more assholes with nukes).

The documents pull back the curtain on a network of accountants and lawyers (most of whom were from Pakistan but operating under hilariously British fakes names) who helped Iranian oil interests set up tax havens and sell their oily wares secretly.

From this leak, we can see how fun, regulatory loopholes can leave the global financial system vulnerable to fraud, money laundering, corruption, and general tomfoolery.

The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, Oregon’s Ron Wyden, went as far as to call for an end to anonymous shell companies in a statement on the Formations House leak:

“Entities are eager to exploit the secrecy afforded by anonymous shell companies to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran, undermining our national security,” said Wyden.

“Ending anonymous shell companies would make it easier for law enforcement to ‘follow the money’ when investigating complex financial crimes like sanctions evasion.”

Reporters from more than 20 outlets in 18 countries have been slowly trawling through the documents for notable stories. But they’ve barely scratched the surface yet.

We’ll likely be hearing more from the #29leaks in the coming months. I’ve got a gentlemen’s bet with myself that at least one major celebrity, political leader, and a children’s entertainer is in there. (If I’m right, y’all can buy me dinner.)

#29leaks #iran