Hollywood star Emma Watson hits back at shocking tax evasion allegations, shutting down rumors with a powerful response. Fans are stunned by her bold statementâget the full story!
The actress is said to have a stake in a British Virgin Islands-based company called Falling Leaves Ltd. However, her representative was quick to tell the Spectator that Watson was using the company for private purposes and was not evading tax.
The Spectator quoted the actress’ representative as saying: “Emma (like many other celebrities) set up an offshore company for the sole purpose of protecting her identity and safety. British companies require disclosure of shareholder details, so she could not hide her identity and this caused a lot of trouble. Emma did not receive any tax-free money or any money of unknown origin from this company. This action (setting up an offshore company) was purely for private purposes.”
Like many of Mossack Fonsecaâs clients, there is no evidence that Watson used the companies for any improper purposes. While setting up offshore companies is not illegal in itself, many anti-poverty activists believe they can act as âshieldsâ to help the wealthy avoid tax or to facilitate the laundering of money from bribery, embezzlement and other forms of corruption.
On May 10, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published additional data on 200,000 entities on the website âoffshoreleaks.icij.orgâ, which contains a lot of information about companies and funds related to a series of âphantomâ companies in foreign countries. This information, along with many previous data, was widely spread after being stolen from the law firm Mossack Foneca in Panama.
According to the results of the investigation into nearly 12 million leaked documents of Mossack Fonseca, this law firm created a âtax havenâ, helping about 140 politicians, including 12 leaders or former leaders of countries, along with sports stars, drug lords… to evade taxes. This is considered the largest data leak ever and it reveals the identities and secrets of many world leaders, with huge assets abroad.
Emma Watson, born in 1990, is an English actress, model and social activist. She is best known for her role as Hermione Granger in the âHarry Potterâ series, adapted from the novel of the same name by female writer J. K. Rowling.