A Look Inside The Paradise Papers

WAMU 88.5

Published November 6, 2017 at 11:06 AM EST

A trove of documents, dubbed the Paradise Papers, indicates that Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, seen here with President Trump, has held on to investments in a shipping firm that has ties to Vladimir Putin's inner circle.

A leak of 13.4 million documents from offshore tax havens has revealed a slew of details about some of the richest and most powerful people and companies.

The trove of data, which are being called the Paradise Papers, “exposes ties between Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, the secret dealings of the chief fundraiser for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the offshore interests of the queen of England and more than 120 politicians around the world,”

Reveal reports.

As with the Panama Papers, the Paradise Papers are being reported on by dozens of newsrooms and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The Guardian has summarized some of the revelations already published.

• Extensive offshore dealings by Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors, including substantial payments from a firm co-owned by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of the US commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross.

•How Twitter and Facebook received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments that can be traced back to Russian state financial institutions.

•The tax-avoiding Cayman Islands trust managed by the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s chief moneyman.

We’ll get the latest on what’s been uncovered, and the reactions to the stories so far.

GUESTS

Marina Walker Guevara, Deputy director, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists; she co-managed the Pulitzer Prize-winning Panama Papers investigation.

Michael Montgomery, Reporter, “Reveal” from the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

For more, visit https://the1a.org.