No Sire In Cheque Book Journalism we pay you.

To the CBC and others: “How much will you pay me for stealing 15 years old bank files on the rich and famous?”

Check Book Investigative Journalism

How much did the CBC and other media pay for a story about outdated documents? Probably more than some of the trust funds.

Portcullis Trustnet, one of the largest trust and wealth administration corporations in the world is in peril. Southpac Group, Asiaciti Trust, and trust companies worldwide from the Cayman, the Hague, Switzerland, and the Cook Islands, are in shock. On February 13, in a pre-Valentines gift, a reporter in Australia claims to have received a “brown paper envelope”. The envelope contained a computer disc with information on 140,000 trusts from Portcullis TrustNet, Asia’s biggest group of trustee companies established over 25 years ago with a previously stellar record.

The reporter, wanting to remain nameless, sold the salacious list to an investigative jobber reporting agency in Washington. Even more than the Australian, this Washington bureau saw huge financial and media potential. They packaged the names by country designations and peddled their wares to some of the biggest names in media, the BBC, Figaro, The Los Angeles Times, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and Canada’s CBC just to name a few.

The concentrated media barrage embarrassing the financial offshore trust industry, is set for unveiling later this week.

Following the story.

BobK.
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