Welcome back!
It hasn’t even been three months since we first began publishing the Pandora Papers, but a lot has happened since.
Fallout from ICIJ’s largest ever investigation has come fast and furious. From stirring protests, to costly political scandals, to government action, the revelations have also sparked attempts to discredit the reporting by the rich and powerful around the globe.
ICIJ’s Michael Hudson and Will Fitzgibbon recap key headlines and developments from the weeks that have followed the mammoth leak, as well as the wide range of tax probes and commitments to reform that we’ll be keeping an eye on in 2022.
One of the major things that sets the Pandora Papers apart from other large offshore leaks is how the investigation has exposed secrecy jurisdictions in the United States and the country’s rise as a hub of offshore money.
After blowing the lid on South Dakota’s trust industry, we’ve again teamed up with the Washington Post to delve into Wyoming’s discrete financial sector. The Pandora Papers reveals how global elites have abandoned longstanding offshore centers for secrecy tools offered exclusively in the U.S. state.
Chief among them is the “cowboy cocktail,” a coveted financial arrangement that’s allowed wealthy people from around the world to move their money into the least populated state in America and spend it with a level of anonymity found in few other places. The investigation also takes a look at how becoming a thriving international tax haven hasn’t exactly paid off as planned for the state’s tax revenue.
HEAR FROM THE INVESTIGATORS
You can also catch up on the big takeaways of Pandora Papers from ICIJ staffers, who shared behind-the-scenes details and break down key findings of the investigation in our latest episode of the Meet the Investigators podcast.
REGIONAL ROUNDUPS
Pandora Papers would be nothing without our 600 journalism partners who published groundbreaking journalism in countries around the world. Here’s reporting highlights from Europe, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
LATIN AMERICA PRESSES ON
It’s been a particularly challenging year for our journalism colleagues in Latin America. ICIJ’s Brenda Medina spoke to our partners from the region about how they’ve endured surveillance, raids, smear campaigns, and new laws targeting their independence and continued to publish hard-hitting investigations.
We’ll be taking some time off from the newsletter and wish you all a safe and happy end to 2021! Thank you for sticking with us through such an impactful year.
We’ve got a lot cooking for 2022 and there’s still time to make an end-of-year donation. All gifts are currently being MATCHED, so if you give now, your contribution will go twice as far in supporting journalists who do this work around the world.
Thanks for reading!
Asraa Mustufa
ICIJ's digital editor
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