Admit it, you’re kind of caught up in all the drama that the Panama Papers are unleashing aren’t you?

Today thus far we have given you the basics (HERE), the Zuma involvement (HERE) and the football players and movie star connections (HERE). More you say, so let’s see why local company Fidentia are weathering a potential shit storm.

Business Tech to dish the dirt:

Fidentia’s convicted accountant Graham Maddock paid Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca $59,000 in 2005 and 2006 (R1 million in 2016) to create two sets of offshore companies, secret documents leaked on Sunday revealed.

According to MeasuringWorth, $59,000 in 2005 would have a relative value of $71,600 (R1 million) in 2016…

You should remember perhaps the most prominent reason that Fidentia’s name rings a bell, the small matter of J Arthur Brown spending the savings of almost 50 000 widows and orphans to the tune of around R500 million. Classic pyramid scheme stuff really, as he plundered investors’ funds and lived a lavish lifestyle.

You know what you want to do to avoid that kind of nonsense? Invest with someone you can trust, ain’t no sticky fingers here.

More on Fidentia’s involvement in the Panama Papers fiasco:

Mossack Fonseca’s leaked documents show that two convicted Fidentia members, accountant Maddock and ex-broker Steven Goodwin, used the law firm to create offshore companies when Fidentia’s Ponzi scheme was exposed.

“Mossack Fonseca was willing to help one of the fraudsters protect his money even after authorities publicly linked him to the scandal,” ICIJ reported.

Maddock, who told the FSB that he “did what Brown instructed him” to, was given “VIP service” by Mossack Fonseca, the law firm’s records say…

The leaked papers show that Mossack Fonseca also created offshore structures for Goodwin. “As the scandal broke in 2007, Goodwin flew to Australia, then to the US, where a Mossack Fonseca lawyer met with him at a luxury hotel in Manhattan to discuss his offshore holdings, the firm’s internal records show,” ICIJ reported.

“The firm official later wrote that he and Goodwin ‘spoke deeply’ about the Fidentia scandal and that he had ‘convinced Goodwin to better protect’ his offshore company’s assets by passing them to a third party.”

If you want a tinge of good news then remember that Brown was sentenced to 15 years in jail on fraud charges and has since been in jail since December 2014.

I think we’ll steer clear of those crooks if you don’t mind, I plan on retiring to live the life of luxury with the help of other means.

[source:businesstech]

[imagesources:timeslive&dailymaverick]