THREAD (SHORT, I PROMISE) ON OFFSHORE HAVENS AND CHINESE PRINCELINGS
So you've all heard of the #PanamaPapers and probably of the offshore registration firm, Mossack Fonseca, whose records were leaked. (1/x)
So you've all heard of the #PanamaPapers and probably of the offshore registration firm, Mossack Fonseca, whose records were leaked. (1/x)
You may have also noticed yesterday the story @jotted and I wrote that focused on the wealth of the daughter of Li Zhanshu, the No. 3 member of the Chinese Communist Party. If you didn't, here it is... (2/x)
nytimes.com/2020/08/12/bus…
nytimes.com/2020/08/12/bus…
@jotted So the $15m house the daughter Li Qianxin bought in 2013 for about $15m USD (now worth considerably more) was registered to a company in in the British Virgin Islands, Century Joy. (3/x)...see 
@jotted PO BOX 957 in Tortola is the box for the Offshore Incorporations Centre, which formally was used by a company called Offshore Incorporations Limited, which is now called Vistra .. @VistraGroup (4/x)
@jotted @VistraGroup So add the daughter of Li Zhanshu to the well-connected Chinese princelings and princeling-adjacent people who use Vistra's incorporation. That list is now getting pretty long. I asked @VistraGroup how they vet for "politically exposed persons" - I haven't heard back. (5/x)
@jotted @VistraGroup To summarize, people who have incorporated using Vistra include:
1. Li Qianxin
2. A company tied to family of a former top anticorruption official.
3. Miles Kwok
4. The daughter-in-law of a famous general
5. A biz associate of son of China's former top cop, Zhou Yongkang (6/x)
1. Li Qianxin
2. A company tied to family of a former top anticorruption official.
3. Miles Kwok
4. The daughter-in-law of a famous general
5. A biz associate of son of China's former top cop, Zhou Yongkang (6/x)
@jotted @VistraGroup 6/6 - And of course, that's just what I've seen, running into them in the course of investigations. The known knowns. Here's a link to the old thread, which has screenshots. END
@jotted @VistraGroup 7/7 - NOTE: the reason this is important is because incorporating offshore hides ownership. Most well-regulated economies (USA and Switzerland being glaring exceptions) make the ownership of registered companies a matter of public record. China and HK are pretty good about this.
