The vast leak of financial documents, dubbed ‘Paradise Papers’, which threatens to expose the secret wealth of the uber-rich, have made some well-noted people across the world extremely nervous – and the incoming US Ambassador to India is one of them.
Among the 13.4 million detailed corporate records that were unearthed, Kenneth Juster’s name stands out rather significantly.
According to The Guardian, Juster has been named a beneficial owner of a Bermuda-based branch of Warburg Pincus, a private equity firm, in which he was a partner, before he joined the Trump administration.
Some of the biggest multinational companies, including Apple, Facebook and Nike, as well as Hollywood celebrities, musicians, and even the Queen of England have been named in the Paradise Papers.
More noteworthy is the fact that among those mentioned, a significant few currently hold leading positions of power in the Trump administration. Along with Juster, detailed accounts of the offshore dealings of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Trump’s Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn, and US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman were also unearthed in the leaks.
Juster, who had held the position of Senior Economic Advisor to Trump until this summer, had earlier this year declared holdings in Warburg Pincus worth up to $5m to the ethics officials.
He had reportedly benefited from the offshore business of his former investment company and its billion-dollar purchase of a shipping corporation. In fact, his name was enlisted separately among Warburg partners in compliance documents relating to the firm’s 2011 purchases of Triton Container International, a company which makes cargo-tracking software.
While Juster has made no comments as yet on his dealings, the US State Department stated that he had already disclosed his financial interests to the concerned authorities and had also paid all his taxes on time.
Mr Juster has, at all times, fully disclosed and properly reported these financial interests on his US federal income tax returns. He also has timely filed and fully paid all US federal income tax liabilities in connection with the ownership of these interests.US State Department, in an official email, to The Guardian
The Paradise Papers had been obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, who had then proceeded to share it with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
(With inputs from The Guardian)
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