More than 100 UK millionaires have been identified as tax dodgers after hiding their wealth using offshore schemes. The tax avoidance schemes involve them claiming to no longer own property, cash and investments in order to keep their fortunes out of reach of HMRC. Many of them use the companies like personal bank accounts. This allows them to continue to enjoy the benefit of their hidden riches.
Mark Faulkner and his partner Harriet Logan moved more than £28m in cash and assets to a Mauritian company called Babington PCC. Officially they have given away their fortune, but the Paradise Papers documents show they could still control how cash was spent because they acted as "investment advisers" to Babington. They have advised the offshore company to buy a £3.25m country mansion, properties in London, a brand new Aston Martin, an art collection, a collection of classic photographs and a cellar of vintage wines. It also owned their holiday home in Florida, funded the upkeep of another holiday home in the south of France, paid for trips to New York and Miami, and spent more than £100,000 a year funding Mr Faulkner's hobby of classic yacht racing. Faulkner and Logan contributed £1.6m of the offshore money to the "Education Purpose Trust" - which would then fund their four children's entire private education. The tax avoidance schemes were administered by Appleby.
James O'Toole, a British lawyer has made his own fortune by advising the wealthy how to dodge tax. The documents show that O'Toole has personally used a similar type of tax avoidance scheme to his clients. He was an "investment advisor" to a Mauritian company which owns his mansion in Northumberland. He has also not owned two Aston Martins, a BMW, a Range Rover, luxury watches including a Rolex, and a Harley Davidson motorbike - which were all kept at his home. O'Toole even advised his offshore company to use his tax-free cash to pay for his own personal shopper. She was paid tens of thousands of dollars to buy his clothes, shop for groceries, pick up nappies, order limos and suggest Mother's Day presents. Some of the cash came from the huge fees he charges clients. One British couple were charged £960,000 for tax advice by O'Toole's company - £827,000 of that cash was paid straight into the offshore bank account connected to O'Toole's company.
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