ALERT FOR IDENTITY MANIPULATION BY MOSSACK FONSECA FOREIGN OFFICE STAFF

Mossack's Brazil chain of command

When I wrote the recent article Mossack's Covert Global Sales Apparatus Operated under the Radar, on April 6, I noticed that the Miami office manager of the Mossack subsidiary, which appears to be a sales office, though it operates out of a residential condominium, curiously showed up with two different last names. One of our readers of that article commented that he found she has been using four different names. This is a technique specifically designed to foil any investigation that seeks to find a pattern, or course of dealings, in financial transactions. It is a method of deception often used by financial criminals.

We must assume that they are in widespread use by overseas Mossack staff members, as they attempt to confuse any possible inquiries, or due diligence investigations, and conceal their business from local licensing authorities, as well as tax men, and regulators.

Here's what you might expect, based upon what I have extracted from the Miami manager's name permutations:

1. Using the staff member's full four-part Latin American Spanish name ( first name, middle name, father's last name, mother's last name).
2. Splitting her last name into two parts, and making the first part of it into a bogus middle name.
3.Using her full middle name, and a fragment of the last name.
4. Using a compound or hyphenated last name.
5. Using the middle name as her last name.

 Searches, in local public records, and state or provincial corporate services websites, can uncover the use of alternative names by the same individuals. One must only look for documents with the same common denominator, such as recorded filings, to see the signatures of deceptively similar, yet unique, names, which could be the same individual, seeking to confuse investigators or law enforcement.

The takeaway here is that Mossack Fonseca should be expected to have used all the tradecraft of money launderers in its representation of criminal clients, including the normal precautions taken by  financial criminals.