Financial Transparency Coalition

On Friday, April 1st at 13:00-14:30 CET / 11:00-12:30 UTC the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC) hosted a high-level panel discussion on offshore wealth.

100 Reporters, the cutting edge non-profit group of journalists focused on exposing corruption, is sponsoring a photography contest. Two years after Teodorin Obiang and the rest of the corrupt Equatorial Guinea regime were exposed for lavish spending in the United States, 100 Reporters is asking contestants for images of corruption in New York City, as world leaders gather at the United Nations.

WASHINGTON, DC – Two recent articles published in The New York Timesexpose how criminals, terrorists, corrupt foreign politicians, and tax evaders abuse anonymous U.S. shell companies to launder their profits and impede law enforcement investigators, highlighting the need—says Global Financial Integrity (GFI)—for Congress to enact legislation requiring disclosure of the true (human) beneficial owners of corporations, trusts and foundations.

Last week Coutts, banker to the Queen, was fined £8.75 million for failing to take corruption risk seriously enough. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) found problems with over 70 percent of the client files they reviewed; in some cases, allegations that customers were involved in looting state funds were brushed aside by bankers keen to increase the bank’s profits - and presumably their own bonuses.