Revealed: Members of the Clintons’ inner circle had links to Mossack Fonseca
Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng is one of many connections to the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers leak.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently blasted the hidden financial dealings exposed in the Panama Papers, but she and her husband have multiple connections with people who have used the law firm Mossack Fonseca to establish offshore companies.
Among them are Gabrielle Fialkoff, finance director for Hillary Clinton’s first campaign for the US Senate; Frank Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate who has travelled the world with Bill Clinton; the Chagoury family, which pledged US$1 billion to the Clinton Global Initiative; and Chinese billionaire Ng Lap Seng, who was at the centre of a Democratic fundraising scandal when Bill Clinton was president.
Also using the Panamanian law firm was the company founded by the late billionaire investor Marc Rich, who was an international fugitive when Bill Clinton pardoned him in the final hours of his presidency.
The Panama connection: Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing linked with law firm Mossack Fonseca
The ties are both recent and decades old, not surprising for the presidential front runner and her husband, who have been in public life since the 1970s.
Each is listed in the leak of data from Mossack Fonseca, a law firm with expertise in registering offshore companies, which can have legitimate business purposes, but can also be used to evade taxes and launder money.