Russia, Ukraine, Sanctions, Oligarchs, Seizures, and Document Leaks

One thought I’ve has as Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and international sanctions in resposne escallate is what the role of the data breaches and “leak journalism” of the past six years might be.

The Panama Papers story broke in 2016, and has been followed by the Bahamas Leaks, FinCEN Files, Mauritius Leaks, Pandora Papers (2021), Paradise Papers (2017), Swiss Leaks (2015), Suisse secrets (2022), and the Secret IRS Files leaks.

The financial world is, it seams, rather draughty.

The cases have also revealed the extent to which the US itself, as well as the UK, play roles as major “offshore banking havens”, or more accurately, holders of what are quite often ill-begotten gains.

One hopes that the vault walls exhibit trends toward transparency and permiability.

And wonders if state-actor based intelligence and law-enforcement might prove even more capabile than a rag-tag band of scrappy journos.

#Russia #Ukraine #DocumentLeaks #Sanctions #Oligarchs #TaxHavens #Sanctions