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AC Executive Director Commends the Impact of Pandora Papers Expose

January 6, 2022

With the aftermath of the release of the Pandora Papers still fresh in the minds of the public, many politicians and public figures continue to face the music as leaders of peoples and nations “scramble to hold onto their jobs,” write Michael Hudson and Will Fitzgibbon for ICIJ. 

The global conversation on tax havens and financial crimes has been forever changed by the new information brought to light by the largest-ever ICIJ investigation, released in October of 2021. With world leaders such as the president of Cyprus and the finance minister of Brazil being implicated in monetary crimes, a growing number of white-collar criminals are finally being brought to face the consequences of their actions. 

According to Tess Davis, the Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, the overarching approach to public policy has generally deemed cultural racketeering “as a white collar and victimless crime – if it treated it as a crime at all.” The work done by the group of investigative journalists to produce the Pandora Papers “do much to correct this false narrative,” with the high-profile and deeply-reported nature thereof.

“The Pandora Papers exposé confirmed that bad actors are exploiting the multibillion dollar art market, using legal loopholes to traffic artifacts, launder money, and hide ill-gotten gains,” said Tess Davis, executive director of the Antiquities Coalition.

Work from the group of journalists behind the ICIJ and Washington Post expose can be found here.

Stay tuned as more articles, opinion pieces, and news items are released as the impacts of the Pandora Papers continue to unravel.