MOSSACK AND FONSECA ILLEGALLY FORMED OFFSHORE COMPANIES WITH THE NAMES OF PROMINENT BANKS

As more documents in the Panama Papers scandal are made available to the media, we are learning that there was nothing sacred at Mossack, when it came to forming companies, which were then used to hide money for its dirty clients. Reports from Panama indicate that the law firm of Mossack and Fonseca not only illegally appropriated the names of well-known international NGOs and non-profits, when forming offshore companies in obscure tax haven jurisdictions, it actually formed companies with the names of prominent international banks, without their consent and knowledge.

The Mossack firm also used the tried-and-true technique of classic money laundering: filing companies having the names of banks that have been ever so slightly altered. We called that deceptively similar, making a very minor change in the spelling of the name. Most readers assume, incorrectly, that it is one and the same as the real bank, but, in truth and in fact, it is a shell company unaffiliated with the real one. That's how money launderers and financial criminals get over on the legitimate financial world.

You can expect to see more of these "dirty tricks" from Mossack and Fonseca, as more information is released to media outlets. They demonstrate a complete and total lack of business ethics, a corporate culture bereft of any morality, and a reckless disregard for trademarks, service marks, and intellectual property.