The Paradise Papers shed new light on offshore finance
The data leak will increase pressure to clamp down on tax avoidance
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/20171111_FNP504.jpg)
THIS week was uncomfortable for a host of well-heeled figures. In the frame were U2’s Bono, America’s commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross, and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, as well as some of the world’s most valuable companies, including Apple and Nike. All these, and many more, feature in the “Paradise Papers”, a trove of more than 13m documents, many of them stolen from Appleby, a leading offshore law firm. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its 95 press partners, including the BBC and the New York Times, began publishing stories based on the papers on November 5th. Dozens appeared this week, with more to follow after The Economist went to press.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Sun-kissed stories”
Finance & economics November 11th 2017
- Regulators begin to tackle the craze for initial coin offerings
- Equity valuations are high. But other options look even worse
- Venezuela seeks the restructuring of its massive foreign debts
- The Paradise Papers shed new light on offshore finance
- The New York Fed’s president announces his retirement
- America’s Republicans take aim at mortgage subsidies
- ING, a Dutch bank, finds a winning digital strategy
- Activist shareholders take on the London Stock Exchange
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