Panama Papers
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, a former journalist who made a fortune as a lawyer and merchant banker, entered politics in 2004. Before becoming Prime Minister in September 2015, Turnbull held several ministerial positions and led Australia’s opposition party between September 2008 and December 2009.
Arkady and Boris
Rotenberg
Billionaire brothers Arkady and Boris Rotenberg had the incredible good fortune of being childhood friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin. As teenagers, they bonded with Putin over Sambo, a Russian martial art, and judo.
Jean Claude N’Da Ametchi
Jean-Claude N’Da Ametchi is a banking executive from the Ivory Coast. In April 2011, the European Union sanctioned N’Da Ametchi for allegedly helping to fund the “illegitimate administration” of former president Laurent Gbagbo.
PAWEŁ PISKORSKI
Paweł Piskorski was the mayor of Warsaw from early 1999 until Jan. 14, 2002, and a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2009. He ran into trouble in 2005 when published reports said that he and his wife had purchased 790 acres of land.
Jasmine Li
Jasmine Li became famous in China after she was photographed attending a debutante ball in Paris in 2009 with other wealthy and politically connected young female friends. Li attended boarding school in the United States and completed a bachelor’s degree at Stanford University in California.
Deng Jiagui
Deng Jiagui, who has made a fortune in real estate development, became “Red Nobility” in 1996 when he married Qi Qiaoqiao, the daughter of Xi Zhongxun, one of China's revolutionary heroes and a former top official. Qi Qiaoqiao’s younger brother is Xi Jinping, who is president of China and head of China’s Communist Party.
Bjarni Benediktsson
Bjarni Benediktsson is Iceland’s Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs. Benediktsson and two Icelandic businessmen owned a Seychelles shell company called Falson & Co, which was purchased through the Luxembourg branch of the Icelandic bank Landsbanki in 2005.
Jesus Villanueva
Jesus Villanueva rose quickly within Petroleos de Venezuela (PdVSA), the state oil company, after Hugo Chavez's election as president in 1998. Villanueva served as general auditor, then as a director in 2002, later returning to auditor and then becoming a director again in 2005.
Mounir Majidi
Mounir Majidi, a businessman and entrepreneur with an MBA degree from Pace University in New York, became the personal secretary to the King Mohammed VI of Morocco, in 2000. Two years later, the king appointed Majidi to be head of SIGER.
Saudi Crown Prince
Mohammad bin Naif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Saudi Arabia’s interior minister and counterterrorism chief, is next in line to the throne after King Salman elevated him twice in the line of succession in 2015.
Javier Molina Bonilla
Mounir Majidi, a businessman and entrepreneur with an MBA degree from Pace University in New York, became the personal secretary to the King Mohammed VI of Morocco, in 2000. Two years later, the king appointed Majidi to be head of SIGER.
Konrad Mizzi
Konrad Mizzi is the minister of energy and health of the Republic of Malta. He was elected to Parliament in 2013 and became the deputy leader of Malta’s ruling Labour Party in February 2016.
Néstor Grindetti
Néstor Grindetti served as finance minister of Buenos Aires when the city was led by current Argentine President Mauricio Macri. In December 2015, Grindetti was sworn in as mayor of Lanús, an industrial city south of Buenos Aires but still within the greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
Rami and Hafez Makhlouf
Néstor Grindetti served as finance minister of Buenos Aires when the city was led by current Argentine President Mauricio Macri. In December 2015, Grindetti was sworn in as mayor of Lanús, an industrial city south of Buenos Aires but still within the greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
Giuseppe D. Nicosia
Giuseppe Donaldo Nicosia, an advertising executive, is on the lam from Italian authorities following accusations of involvement in a $50 million tax fraud scheme that allegedly sold advertising space and fraudulently claimed value added tax credits.
João Lyra
João José Pereira de Lyra was once Brazil’s richest member of Parliament, worth an estimated $140 million. He served in the Brazilian Congress several times over the years, in the Senate from 1989 to 1991 and in the House from 2003 to 2007 and again from 2011 to to 2015.
Juan Hinojosa
Juan Armando Hinojosa, who has been called Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's "favorite contractor," runs a well-connected business empire that secured at least $750 million in business with government agencies.
Mauricio Macri
Argentine President Mauricio Macri appeared headed for a business career, working his way up under the tutelage of his father, Italian-born business tycoon, Francisco Macri. But in 1991, he was kidnapped for ransom by federal police officers – a turning point that led him to politics.
Daniel Muñoz
Daniel Muñoz was the private secretary and confidant of former Argentinian president Néstor Kirchner. Muñoz later also served for two years as an aide to Néstor Kirchner’s wife, Cristina Férnandez de Kirchner, who was president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015.
Mohammad Mustafa
Mohammad Mustafa, chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund, has been a close confidant to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas since Hamas took over the Gaza strip in 2007. A former senior official of the World Bank.