Thread by @WillFitzgibbon

1/ When @ICIJorg first got the #pandorapapers, I wanted to see what we could learn about the U.S. as a tax haven. I’d heard rumors, but wanted to see WHO and WHAT was using secrecy inside the US.

@debbiecenziper and I went on a journey, lemme tell you

washingtonpost.com/business/inter…

2/ With @delreuter, we spent months poring over 12 million records to identify more than 200 U.S. trusts, many of which were in South Dakota.

Of those, almost 30 trusts were tied to people, firms and assets linked to allegations of wrongdoing, including human rights abuses.

3/ @debbiecenziper, @salwangeorges @BrendaMedinar travelled to California, South Dakota and the Dominican Republic to connect the wonky world of trusts (what they heck are they, anyway?) to real people.

And real suffering. (Check out @salwangeorges's moving photos)

4/ I spent months speaking to archivists, librarians in Alaska, New Hampshire, Delaware, Mississippi and South Dakota.

We obtained hundreds of pages dating back decades to chart the rise of trusts in the US

I listened to hours of legislative hearings (top tip: not always fun!)

We heard from a trust industry insider who told of concerns that the state doesn't have the ability to know who is moving money and other assets into South Dakota.

(For more on that, listen to @tedmuldoon's upcoming #PostReports!)

We obtained hundreds of pages of sealed court records to bust open a case in South Dakota about who should pay child support.

South Dakota is the only US state to automatically and permanently seal trust records from public view.

Secretive much, South Dakota?

We identified millionaires, billionaires and other wealthy families living around the world who have moved assets to South Dakota in recent years.

Sometimes, those assets were moved into the US from places like Jersey and the Bahamas (i.e. "classic" tax havens)

🇩🇴🇧🇷🇲🇽🇨🇴🇪🇨🇬🇹🇸🇻

And we spoke to dozens of experts who said, plainly, that the United States' trust industry is under-regulated and needs urgent attention.

As @JoshRudes said

icij.org/investigations…

As always, this story was a huge team effort with @ZivaBranstetter and @ben_hallman working with @debbiecenziper and I.

Thank you to @ICIJorg's reporting friends and family from across the world who helped us understand the role of the United States as a secrecy jurisdiction