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emmy9937's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.5
Very interesting. I had a hard time following some of the names and understanding some of the financial stuff, so I’ll have to read it again someday
constantine2020's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
3.0
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Nonfiction
Secrecy World, also known as The Laundromat, is a nonfiction book that delves deeply into the murky world of offshore finance, which was brought to light by the leak of the Panama Papers. The primary focus of this book is a law firm known as Mossack Fonseca, which is based in Panama and played a great role in establishing tax havens and a convoluted network of shell companies.
The main goal of creating this devious system was to assist wealthy individuals in evading taxes, money laundering, and a wide variety of other illegal activities. And what is even more shocking than all this is that many big and well-known names in the banking sector were knowingly or unknowingly partners in all this.
Obviously, the author has done extensive research to write this book, connecting banks, individuals, and governments to this shadowy system. You will find a comprehensive analysis of all the different situations, mostly backed by the leaked documents.
Considering that this is a work of nonfiction, I would not consider the entertainment value to be a factor in this case. Nevertheless, the amount of information that the book offered is, in my opinion, an appropriate criterion to use when evaluating the material. I will not lie and say that I really hoped the scope of it extended beyond the leaks in the Panama Papers. Despite that, it was still a good read.
beastreader's review against another edition
3.0
I am aware that money laundering goes on. When I think of this I instantly do think of Panama as the first place followed by the Caribbean next. Yet, I haven't thought to much about "business laundering". There is a huge "secret" network of corporations that manage the purchasing, selling, paperwork, logistics, etc. If you want to chance the IRS not knowing your true financial worth then you might go seeking one of these corporations.
Mr. Bernstein takes readers into the dark underbelly of this and other secret worlds. Mr. Bernstein shows with his research the network that exists in the shadows. The research is well done and thoroughly well written. The only thing is that I liked reading this book but I also don't want to just "read" a book on a subject. What I mean is that I want to experience "ahh ha" moments and not feel like I am just reading a history or research paper. Overall, I still did enjoy reading this book. I did learn a lot.
Mr. Bernstein takes readers into the dark underbelly of this and other secret worlds. Mr. Bernstein shows with his research the network that exists in the shadows. The research is well done and thoroughly well written. The only thing is that I liked reading this book but I also don't want to just "read" a book on a subject. What I mean is that I want to experience "ahh ha" moments and not feel like I am just reading a history or research paper. Overall, I still did enjoy reading this book. I did learn a lot.
fengyuseah's review against another edition
3.0
a really informative and interesting book, but there's just SO MUCH information and it doesn't truly pick up until the lead-up to the Panama Papers leak and reportage. not the easiest book to read as a result, but i learnt a lot.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Informative—if dense—take on what the Panama Papers are, how they came to be, and why they impacted us so much. Gets a little too deep in the weeds with name-dropping and creaky narrative formula but overall, I got a good picture of what happened and (somewhat) how. Shame that this will still continue, just under different guises.
missantarctica's review against another edition
dark
informative
5.0
I literally cannot explain why I’ve listened to this audiobook 4 times but I did, it made me mad every time, and I loved it.
simonmee's review against another edition
3.0
I badly wanted to love this book. I wanted to toot my digital trumpet and type EAT THE RICH, fortified with paragraphs of evidence of the nefarious dealings of the super wealthy...
...and to be fair, this book does deliver enough reasons to lay out the silverware. While there is no SPECTRE-like conspiracy, we read of a large number of grifters who coalesced to form a somewhat rickety, yet often successful, world of secrecy. Politicians in havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Niue, Delaware and Switzerland deliberately wrote laws with limited formation and disclosure obligations for companies. Other laws permitted bearer shares and hid the ownership of bank accounts. Lawyers identified such havens used them to the advantage of their clients. Bankers asked few questions as to the provenance of funds and valued obfuscation over transparency. Other grifters, including auctioneers of fine arts, dip in and out of narrative as they exploit advantages in information.
Unexpectedly, the inner workings felt less complicated than I expected. While you could argue their intention, the laws in the relevant havens are reasonably brazen in their effect. The legal firms churned out companies with pre-signed forms without any real intellectual input. Financiers laundered money with mirrored buy and sell trades that made little sense in isolation. Stories of incompetence abound, including an over sleeping employee tanking a bank's stocks, a lawyer who collected fees but failed to go through with renewing company registrations, and firms repeatedly frantically backdating documents to present a legitimate face to transactions.
Unfortunately, it is the multitude of stories that is the problem. A large number of threads line each chapter. There are aimply too many names, too many deals, too many ways the money was hidden for me to keep track. There are stories from those chasing the money (for both business and legal enforcement reasons). A large portion of the book is devoted to the collection of journalists trying to understand the information and collaborating on publishing it. Worst of all, there was no one single leak, and keeping track of who provided what ended up defeating me.
This book could have actually done with more pages, and a firmer grip on the narrative. At the risk of obscuring the global nature of the Panama Papers, it would have probably been worthwhile to focus on a smaller number of parties and develop the personalities involved. The author was actually good at humanising a number of characters but there were just too many.
This is a good book. But I wanted it to be great. 3 stars for spurning my love
...and to be fair, this book does deliver enough reasons to lay out the silverware. While there is no SPECTRE-like conspiracy, we read of a large number of grifters who coalesced to form a somewhat rickety, yet often successful, world of secrecy. Politicians in havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Niue, Delaware and Switzerland deliberately wrote laws with limited formation and disclosure obligations for companies. Other laws permitted bearer shares and hid the ownership of bank accounts. Lawyers identified such havens used them to the advantage of their clients. Bankers asked few questions as to the provenance of funds and valued obfuscation over transparency. Other grifters, including auctioneers of fine arts, dip in and out of narrative as they exploit advantages in information.
Unexpectedly, the inner workings felt less complicated than I expected. While you could argue their intention, the laws in the relevant havens are reasonably brazen in their effect. The legal firms churned out companies with pre-signed forms without any real intellectual input. Financiers laundered money with mirrored buy and sell trades that made little sense in isolation. Stories of incompetence abound, including an over sleeping employee tanking a bank's stocks, a lawyer who collected fees but failed to go through with renewing company registrations, and firms repeatedly frantically backdating documents to present a legitimate face to transactions.
Unfortunately, it is the multitude of stories that is the problem. A large number of threads line each chapter. There are aimply too many names, too many deals, too many ways the money was hidden for me to keep track. There are stories from those chasing the money (for both business and legal enforcement reasons). A large portion of the book is devoted to the collection of journalists trying to understand the information and collaborating on publishing it. Worst of all, there was no one single leak, and keeping track of who provided what ended up defeating me.
This book could have actually done with more pages, and a firmer grip on the narrative. At the risk of obscuring the global nature of the Panama Papers, it would have probably been worthwhile to focus on a smaller number of parties and develop the personalities involved. The author was actually good at humanising a number of characters but there were just too many.
This is a good book. But I wanted it to be great. 3 stars for spurning my love