Interesting report on the Business Insider website yesterday.
This isn’t going to make clients very happy at all.
The Insider reports…
Super-rich clients of offshore law firm Appleby are bracing themselves for the exposure of their financial secrets, after the firm admitted data had been stolen in a cyber attack last year.
The Bermuda-based law firm admitted it was “not infallible” and said some client data had been stolen in the hack, but denied any wrongdoing. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has since approached the firm with allegations of wrongdoing, after it was handed data obtained in the hack, which Appleby strongly refutes.
Appleby said in a statement it did not tolerate “illegal behaviour,” and said the ICIJ’s allegations were “unfounded and based on a lack of understanding of the legitimate and lawful structures used in the offshore sector.” The firm said it had investigated the allegations “thoroughly and vigorously,” and was satisfied there was no evidence of wrongdoing “either on the part of ourselves or our clients.”
The ICIJ and its media partners are reportedly planning to publish a series of stories based on the allegations.
The news comes 18 months after the release of the so-called “Panama Papers” breach, in which 11.5 million documents were leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca. The leak led to a series of high-profile scandals, including the resignation of the Prime Minister of Iceland after it was alleged he had hidden millions of dollars-worth of investments in an offshore shell company.
