St. Louis is not unscathed by the leaked documents known as the Panama Papers. But some local legal experts say being included in the documents is not a clear indication of wrongdoing.
A basic search of the online database set up by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists suggests only a small number of St. Louis area addresses in the most-recent data dump.
The searchable websiteis a complicated web of offshore financial links, so more local connections could be buried in the layers and layers of data.
“It’s hard to trace,” says attorney Michelle Schwerin with St. Louis law firm Capes Sokol.
“And that's why there were almost 300 journalists working for eight-plus months to investigate the data before any news article was even published."
Schwerin says there are legitimate reasons to set up an offshore account or have interest in a foreign company.
“The first reason, I guess would be that a U.S. taxpayer is living abroad. And for practical purposes of banking, they would have a foreign account in the region or city that they are living in,” Schwerin told St. Louis Public Radio.
Other reasons include more attractive investment opportunities and the legal protection of certain assets.
Saint Louis University Law School Professor Henry Ordower says there is a possibility of no wrongdoing if a name or address pops up in the Panama Papers.
“The optics are extremely bad, because we have this feeling that everybody should be telling everything about what they have and where they have it. Yet, what they may be doing is perfectly legal."
But Ordower adds the information in the Panama Papers is likely about people who know if they are involved in something illegal.
“I think that people, who are using offshore investments to defer income, or to hide their investments for whatever reason, generally know what they are doing and where it's going."
The leaked documents include more than 11 million files from one of the world’s largest offshore law firms, Panama-based Mossack Fonseca.
It specializes in wealth management along with setting up offshore companies.
The attention of the data breach prompted the law firm to issue a release last month stating it has operated "beyond reproach" for 40 years and has "never been accused of charged in connection with any wrongdoing."
Originally leaked to a German newspaper, they were shared with the journalist consortium. The information was eventually shared with more news organizations, including the BBC and the Guardian.
They are among the news agencies that have spent months deciphering the massive amount of information to trace some offshore accounts to global leaders like Russian President Vladimir Putin. British Prime Minister David Cameron has also been linked to questionable business dealings by relatives.
The documents have also caused a political shakeup in Iceland. That country’s Prime Minister resigned last month after he was linked to an offshore company.
Copyright 2016 St. Louis Public Radio
