Who exactly is Appleby?
‘Offshore magic circle’ law firm has record of compliance failures that have now been exposed by huge data leak
When Robert Woods, an ex-cop from Liverpool, took a job in early 2006 as a compliance manager for the global offshore law firm Appleby, he joined an organisation that had problems. Appleby’s Cayman Islands office, where he worked, had more than 600 clients on its books whose records were "noncompliant". The firm had no current IDs, contact information or other details that ensured it wasn’t setting up shell companies for crooks. In another case, Appleby set up a trust for a client to buy property in London, accepting his money "without question". But Appleby later learnt the trust was owned by a former Pakistani official who had been charged with embezzling public money. "Some of the crap we accept is amazing, totally amazing," the presentation said. Now, this week’s leak of 6.8m confidential Appleby records, from the 1950s to 2016, exposes how it failed to keep out all questionable clients for years. When asked, Appleby said only that it is committed to high standards and refutes a...
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