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Is Miami The Dark Money Capital Of Mexico?

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JP Carroll National Security & Foreign Affairs Reporter
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A Miami-based asset management and financial services firm has been implicated in the Panama Papers investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), according to Mexican publication Proceso.

JTC Group is headquartered in the known tax haven of Jersey, which is a “British crown dependency but is not part of the UK or of the European Union.” The privately held firm has two U.S. offices: one in New York City and another in Miami.

The Panama Papers investigation reveals decades worth of leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialized in aiding high-profile and high net worth clients with tax avoidance.

Proceso reported Saturday that the JTC Group served as the main U.S.-based intermediary for several of Mossack Fonseca’s Mexican clients. JTC Group and Mossack Fonseca worked together to register firms based in the British Virgin Islands and Geneva, Switzerland on behalf of Mexican clientele.

The Daily Caller News Foundation contacted the firm’s Miami office to request comment, but could not get anyone to remain on the phone when questioned about the Panama Papers investigation.

Prominent Mexicans have been implicated in the Panama Papers investigation, including famed Mexican telenovela actress Edith González, as well as business magnate Juan Armando Hinojosa, who is close to Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

It was revealed in 2014 that Hinojosa had given a sweetheart loan of $4 million to Nieto’s wife, Angélica Rivera, a former telenovela actress, to purchase a $7 million home before her husband was elected president. In August 2015, “the Secretariat of Public Function said that there was no conflict of interest in the purchase of the house and exonerated Peña Nieto,” according to ICIJ. Hinojosa’s companies have $750 million worth of contracts with the Mexican government.

ICIJ announced that on May 9 it will make publicly available “a searchable database with information on more than 200,000 offshore entities that are part of the Panama Papers investigation.” This data dump is likely the largest of its kind, according to ICIJ.

The Panama Papers investigation has notably drawn the ire of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Information released by ICIJ has implicated a major Clinton and Obama donor, as well as prominent cocaine supplier to the Mexican cartel Los Zetas.

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