Publisher's Weekly Review
Bernstein, a reporter on the Pulitzer Prize-winning team that broke the Panama Papers story, pulls back the curtain on a shadowy underworld of tax havens, offshore accounts, and shell companies in this heavily detailed yet surprisingly bloodless exposé of the illicit financial system and its 2015 collapse at the hands of anonymous leakers. Bernstein begins with the story of Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the center of this web of criminal activity. He explains how the rise of the superwealthy in the 1980s and 1990s led to a new market in secrecy. By taking advantage of the services offered by such firms as Mossack Fonseca, wealthy individuals could store art, launder money, and avoid taxes with impunity-until a few rogue journalists brought the whole thing crashing down. Bernstein's revelatory source material, including interviews and secret videotapes, demonstrates the extent to which global banks such as HSBC were complicit in unlawful activities. However, the brief introduction and epilogue rush by too quickly to do justice to the complex material in the middle. Bernstein's book should be a juicy read, but its plodding pace and monotone prose turns it into a dossier. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A searching look at the tangled, deeply buried financial network exposed by the publication of the so-called Panama Papers.Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Bernstein (co-author: Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency, 2006), a reporter with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, recounts the story that the millions of documents leaked from a Panamanian law firm tell about how corporations and wealthy individuals hide their money in offshore accounts. As he notes, that firm has its origins in the Third Reich, when a former SS commando made his way to Latin America, "a beacon for former Nazis following Germany's defeat," and became an expert in maritime law. His partner in Mossack Fonseca had long roots in Panama's political class as well as a fearless embrace of a questionable clientelearms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, for one. "In Panama, moral flexibility was a professional selling point," writes Bernstein; the country has a long history of catering to an international criminal cohort in exchange for a cut of the action. Mossack Fonseca, by the author's account, went headfirst into the business of parking massive fortunes in places where they supposedly would not be detected: the Seychelles, Liechtenstein, the British Virgin Islands. As "Mossfon" grew, it expanded its markets to places like China, whose wealthy had been sheltering money in Panama and Liberia but needed a new haven with the fall of Manuel Noriega and Samuel Doe; Mossfon obliged with fake foundations, silent partnerships, and a range of other strategies, some quite illegal. As its influence grew, others came into Mossfon's orbitincluding members of Vladimir Putin's circle and, it seems, of Donald Trump's as well. Bernstein alleges that "Trump had long made a practice of consorting with dodgy characters for financial gain, so Mossfon wouldn't have been a stretch. In the months since his election, notes the author, it has been difficult to distinguish whether the administration's actions are in the public or private interest.Mossfon remains a maze worthy of a Cretan palace, but Bernstein does first-rate work in providing a map to a scandal that has yet to unfold completely. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
New York Review of Books Review
spaceport earth By Joe Pappalardo. (Overlook Press, $28.95.) Private companies and rich people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have taken over the exploration of space. Pappalardo explores this new sort of spacefaring at the outer reaches of business and technology, highbrow, LOWBROW, BRILLIANT, DESPICABLE: 50 YEARS of new york By the Editors of New York Magazine. (Simon & Schuster, $65.) With irreverence and spunk, New York magazine has been around for half a century now. This very big book includes an oral history of the publication and a wide look at its greatest moments, balcony in the forest By Julien Gracq. (New York Review Books, $15.95.) A French author known for the dreamlike quality of his writing, Gracq was also a novelist who could capture well the sensation of waiting. This 1958 novel about French soldiers living in the Ardennes forest at the start of World War II, in anticipation of the German incursion, is a perfect example, secrecy world By Jake Bernstein. (Henry Holt, $30.) The infamous Panama Papers revealed for the world how superwealthy people and celebrities hide their money. In this financial exposé, we get all the details on shell companies and offshore accounts. revolution By Emmanuel Macron. (Scribe, $16.95.) France's new president, the youngest in the history of the country, has been an object of fascination ever since he unexpectedly came to power. In this political autobiography, he recounts his origins and explains his centrist philosophy. "The cultural and political turmoil of 2017 feels somehow both impossible to escape and impossible to fully engage with. The scope of catastrophe is unfathomable, and casting an eye back to the '80s, when America was going through a similar period of disruption and unrest, has offered some relief and guidance. Two books in particular stand out. this bridge called my back is an anthology of essays and art exploring feminism from the perspective of women of color. Especially delightful are academic activist twins Barbara and Beverly Smith, whose sheer delight in living is a reminder that joy can also be revolutionary. Audre Lorde's scathing letter to Mary Daly about the destructiveness of the white female gaze is an essential reminder that thoughtful and incisive critiques are crucial to progress. And then there's the essential dykes to watch out for, which gathers all the comic strips drawn by Alison Bechdel about a group of friends living in a flyover state that reminds us that friends and family are often the only thing that matters in times of deep crisis." - JENNA WORTHAM, STAFF WRITER, ON WHAT SHE'S READING.
Library Journal Review
Journalist Bernstein's book is a timely one. The recent money laundering indictment of Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign manager, involves offshore accounts. This book explains them and is the second work to cover the titular investigation, after Bastian Obermayer's The Panama Papers. Interested readers should pair Bernstein's book with Brooke Harrington's Capital Without Borders, which studies the wealth managers who orchestrate these plans. This book discusses the findings of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in obtaining records of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which became known as the Panama Papers (and won a Pulitzer Prize). The firm was a leading provider of offshore accounts, which helped shelter legal and illegal income from creditors and taxing authorities. Bernstein describes the history of the firm and tours tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Nauru, and Delaware. The first half of the book is a series of vignettes describing how the wealthy avoided scrutiny. The other half is ICIJ's emergence as a stand-alone investigative organization. Well sourced and nontechnical, this work reads like the script to the next James Bond film. For a complete picture, the reader should visit the website icij.org. Verdict For those interested in current affairs and economics.-Harry Charles, St. Louis © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
