Actress Emma Watson was included in the Panama Papers because of an offshore company set up in her name.
According to British newspaper the Spectator, “Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson” is a beneficiary of an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, a U.K. territory known widely as a tax haven.
Based on a search of the public online database which allows anyone to search for companies connected to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, the company in question was established in 2013 and is called Falling Leaves Ltd.
Luke Windsor, Watson’s publicist, stressed to the Washington Examiner that the company was created because of privacy concerns, not for tax reasons.
“Emma (like many high profile individuals) set up an offshore company for the sole purpose of protecting her anonymity and safety,” Windsor said in an emailed statement. “U.K. companies are required to publicly publish details of their shareholders and therefore do not give her the necessary anonymity required to protect her personal safety, which has been jeopardized in the past, owing to such information being publicly available.”
“Offshore companies do not publish these shareholder details,” he continued. “Emma receives absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever — only privacy.”
Watson isn’t the first celebrity to be implicated in the Panama Papers, nor the first famous Brit. Others include action star Jackie Chan, director Pedro Almodovar, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, former “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell and Heather Mills, Paul McCartney’s ex-wife.
