King Abdullah II - Jordan
About
King Abdullah II, 59, has ruled Jordan, a Middle Eastern nation with close economic and military ties to the United States and Europe, since 1999. He projects a progressive image abroad while overseeing, at home, a powerful and fearsome police state that represses journalists and dissidents.
Political Career - King (1999-present)
Details in the Pandora Papers
Abdullah II owned 36 front companies in Panama and the British Virgin Islands, records show. Shell companies were used to disguise the purchase of at least 14 luxury homes in the United Kingdom and the U.S. The properties included homes in central London, Washington, D.C., and Malibu, California, where he paid $33.5 million for a mega-mansion in 2014. All told, the properties were purchased for more than $106 million from 2003 to 2017. Records do not disclose the purpose of the king’s other shell companies, although some were said to hold “family wealth” in Canada and Singapore.
King Abdullah II’s private wealth manager, Andrew Evans, attempted to control information about the king’s ownership of the shell companies, according to 2017 emails. Evans asked lawyers at the firm Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee, also known as Alcogal, about exceptions to laws that require company owners to disclose their identities to authorities. He suggested that one of his own Swiss wealth management companies be named in place of Abdullah.
Evans declined to comment. U.K. attorneys for the king said that he is not required to pay taxes under Jordanian law and that he has security and privacy reasons to hold property in offshore companies. The attorneys also said that most of the companies and properties identified by ICIJ have no connection to the king or no longer exist, but declined to provide details.
Secrecy Broker
At the heart of the Pandora Papers are 14 offshore firms that help clients establish companies in secrecy jurisdictions. This profile draws on leaked data from these providers:
Alcogal
(Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee, or Alcogal, is a go-to offshore provider for top politicians and elites in Latin America and beyond. Founded in Panama, the firm has ties to nearly half of all the politicians whose names appear in the Pandora Papers leak. Here are some of the top political figures involved.)
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