Celebrities in the crosshairs of the authorities, thanks to the Pandora Papers: what are they accused of?
- Advertisement -
They own condominiums and penthouses in high-value areas; they own yachts; their names appear as beneficiaries of companies, but characters like Luis Miguel, Shakira, and Alejandra Guzmán have something in common: part of their money is controlled from tax havens.
According to the Pandora Papers investigation, these celebrities resorted to so-called offshores, -entities created in a country other than the one in which their beneficiaries reside-, to pay less taxes.
Is it something illegal? No. The Spanish newspaper El País, one of the media that published this investigation, stated that the problem arises when these financial entities do not have an office or employees and the name of the main beneficiary is hidden by “opaque companies”.
It may interest you: Pandora Papers, the scandal that hit even 4T characters
The Sun, in the sights for detours
The story that was handled in a Netflix series about Luis Miguel and the 20 million dollars that the Ministry of Finance required in 1988 for non-payment of taxes became a reality. Luis Rey, his father and his manager, diverted millionaire sums to the Soditic company, residing in Switzerland.
Advised by a Jewish agent with ties to Argentina, Luisito Rey, father of El Sol, evaded the treasury and acquired assets, including a Rolls Royce that he put in the name of the singer's mother, Marcela Basteri, according to Javier León Herrera. singer's biographer
The lack of payment of taxes has generated headaches for the singer. In 2000, the US Treasury Department fined him $133,000 for failing to pay taxes on the penthouse he owned on the 46th floor of the Jade Building in the Miami area known as Brickell Bay.
At the end of 2017, Luis Miguel was plunged into a financial crisis, for which he had to sell this property for 4.2 million dollars. But fortune smiled on him again in 2021 and he repurchased the 4,000-square-foot property overlooking Biscayne Bay for $7.8 million.
How To Make Cheap Vodka Taste Better, Because You Can Do So Much Better Than Vodka Soda http://t.co/3BQ3O2aDUN
— The Vodka Guy Fri Jun 05 13:55:31 +0000 2015
It is now known that the economic level of the interpreter of La Incondicional was acceptable since 2013. Through the offshore Skyfall Marine Ltd that emerged in the British Virgin Islands, of which he is the owner, and in which his brother Alejandro Gallego Basteri appears as director, acquired the Sky yacht.
The investigation in which more than 600 journalists and media such as La Sexta, The Washington Post and The Guardian participated indicate that the company was created to purchase this yacht and that in 2016 it had to pay $6,595 to renew the boat's registration and $5,000 dollars for not having the minimum registration of directors.
You may want to read: The origin of Elba Esther's fortune and the works of art exhibited by the SNTE
Ale Guzmán between the windows
The daughter of Silvia Pinal and Enrique Guzmán also resorted to the tax benefits offered by the British Virgin Islands for the creation of offshore companies. In 2014 he consulted the Panamanian law firm Alemán, Cordero, Galindo y Lee (Alcogal) to give way to Frida Enterprises Corp.
Through this entity he acquired a penthouse in the L'Excellence condominium. The real estate development is located on Collins Avenue, in Miami Beach, USA, an area known as Millionaires' Row and whose price exceeds one million dollars.
In 2018, La Guzmán once again resorted to this type of entity to create Frida Enterprises Inc. in Florida, through which it purchased a penthouse located in “the Aria on the Bay condominium, a residential tower facing the sea of 53 floors and with apartments from 400,000 to 10 million dollars”, reports the Spanish newspaper, El País.
Before the revelations, the interpreter said that she answered what she wanted. "I pay my taxes in the United States, in Mexico, I sleep very well," she said during the presentation of her jewelry line.
Shakira, stripped by the Treasury in Spain
Spain has Shakira's life well checked. She knows that her Zumba teacher is named Betsie; that she went to the beauty salon twice a week; that she used American Express credit cards to cover the hotel and restaurant expenses of her assistants; that in 2008 she transferred her image rights from a company in the British Virgin Islands to another in Luxembourg for one euro.
The work commanded by the inspector Susana C., allowed to sustain an accusation of fiscal fraud. The artist used Ace Entertainment to deal with Live Nation. In this way, El País revealed, “the singer reaches an agreement with the Luxembourg authorities to pay 2% taxes. The near-net proceeds then 'flow' back to the British Virgin Islands and from there to a Cayman company, Carpe Diem, and into the singer's pocket.
It is known that Shakira has already delivered more than 20 million euros in an "extraordinary way to try to regularize her situation" although the investigations continue, which could generate higher costs for the singer.
And the list of celebrities goes on… Miguel Bosé, Julio Iglesias and Chayanne.
