9 Fabulously Wealthy People That Reportedly Keep Money Offshore

One thing's for sure — no one knows where all the world's money is.

It can be tucked away in investment vehicles, funneled through holdings companies, sheltered in tax havens... we've heard the stories. It's a huge problem for governments.

To better understand the gravity of this situation, journalists from The Guardian, Huffington Post, The BBC joined the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in sifting through thousands of documents about tax shelters, who owns them, and how they work. You can see the full result over at Huffington Post.

The investigators found staggering names and numbers. There are politicians, wanted fraudsters, royals, and heads of dynasties on the list.

They use companies like Singapore-based Portcullis TrustNet and BVI-based Commonwealth Trust Limited (CTL) to help them set up offshore investment vehicles.

What it all drives home is that this is something that is done. James R. Mellon (of the Mellon banking dynasty) put it this way:

“I just heard of a presidential candidate who had a lot of money in the Cayman Islands,” Mellon, now a British national, said alluding to former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney. “Not everyone who owns off shores is a crook.”

There's a thought.