Banking, finance, and taxes

Panama Papers Link Petrobras to Nevada Holding Company

Paul Ausick

Published: April 5, 2016 2:05 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 11:07 am

The 11.8 million documents released earlier this week already have led to the resignation of the Iceland’s prime minister and some uncomfortable moments for British prime minister David Cameron. And a Nevada-based company named Murray Holdings is about to get a little light shined on it.

McClatchy reported Tuesday that Murray Holdings turned up in the documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The law firm allegedly took advantage of Nevada’s less-than-stringent business formation climate to set up shell companies that did not have to reveal who owned, ran or worked for the company.

Federal law permits foreign citizens to create shell companies that have no revenue or operations in the United States. According to McClatchy’s report, Mossack Fonseca set up Murray Holdings “to hide embezzled funds from Brazil’s state oil company, which was then funneled into luxury real estate.”

That Brazilian oil company is Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (NYSE: PBR), better known as Petrobras. According to a January report from MercoPress, dozens of Brazilian executives and politicians already had been arrested or were under investigation “on suspicion of overcharging Petrobras and using part of the proceeds to bribe Brazilian politicians.” The report goes on:

The apartments were held in the name of front companies, such as Murray Holdings LLC, registered by Panama-based Mossack Group, prosecutors said at a press conference, adding Mossack has previously helped hide the proceeds of criminal activity offshore. … Mossack Group operates in 40 other countries and is suspected of assisting several of those implicated in the Petrobras scandal with opening “offshore” companies in Panama.

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was questioned in early March as part of the investigation into Petrobras. According to McClatchy:

Prosecutors told judges that stolen money first flowed through shell companies in Nevada and was then used to buy seaside real estate in Guaruja, a resort town in the state of São Paulo. The shells hid the names of the true property owners.

Brazilian authorities say they know that Murray Holdings owns at least 10 properties in Brazil.