Offshore A-Z is a digital repository of companies operating across major tax havens. Offshore A-Z exploits the inscrutability of such companies to speculate on their possible nature and intent. Each company listed on here is real, but the information surrounding these consist of both actual records, obtained by dmstfctn, and speculative images and mission statements, generated by algorithms.

Tax havens, or secrecy jurisdictions, employ laws and corporate regulations different from those of most jurisdictions, using secrecy as a prime tool. Furthermore, the agents operating offshore on behalf of clients elsewhere have been observed by dmstfctn to willfully introduce mistakes in the records held on the companies they help forming. (Offshore Investigation Vehicle)

When offshore companies are but a bundle of papers held in private storages, these practices contribute to a number of possible configurations of any given offshore company, whose records are at once factually correct and conveniently flawed.

Offshore A-Z plays with the idea that truth is not one nor static, and that it does not need to be upheld equally at all times or in all fora.

Obtaining the data

The data contained within Offshore A-Z comes from a number of sources. Prior to the Offshore Leaks, the snippets of information available on offshore companies were largely confined to the outdated online registrars kept by tax havens, as an empty gesture towards transparency. Employing data scraping techniques, dmstfctn extracted records on hundreds of thousands of companies appearing in a number of such registrars.

Yielding varying amounts of information, and naturally full of gaps - sometimes full company details and descriptions, sometimes little more than a name - the records were cross referenced with data from the ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks as well as Financial Secrecy Index scores from the Tax Justice Network, and compiled into a single searchable database.

Training the algorithms

Algorithms were then trained to fill in the gaps in information. Using keywords from the company’s records as a trigger, the algorithms associate images with each nondescript company and complete missing fields by guessing possible incorporation dates or by generating corporate mission statement via a simple neural network. The coherency and accuracy of the neural network is directly undermined by the opaque source material, or incomplete input records. Finally, companies previously named in the Offshore Leaks ( for example) are hyperlinked to the relevant entry on the ICIJ database, allowing user to investigate further.

Compiling the template

The resulting information is autonomously built into a Web 2.0 page, employing a visual grammar similar to that used by existing registrars of companies. However, under intense scrutiny, the template mealts away revealing warm hues and floating forms.

This cycle of actions is repeated for each unreleased company found in the database and publicly announced by a Twitter bot.

Zooming in

Among the companies listed on the Offshore A-Z, a few appearing to be embedded in complex offshore vehicles were further investigated, resulting in three stories focusing on the funding behind Leave.EU, the corporate tax-avoidance of Barclays and the colonial origins of HSBC.

Offshore A-Z is a project by dmstfctn.

HEADLINES ENTERTAINMENT AND PROMOTIONS

Company Name HEADLINES ENTERTAINMENT AND PROMOTIONS
Date of Registration 5th July 2003
Company Objective 1A. THE EXPLOIT OF a games ENTERTAINMENT MACHINES and machines, WHETHER IN AN AREA THAT PURPOSE TO ADAPT AND IN OTHER AREAS ACCESSIBLE TO THE PUBLIC;
B. THE RESUME ON BEHALF AND RISK appearing SUB 2. UNDER THE NAME FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT DRIVEN ON BUSINESS SALINA CERCA 21-B ESTABLISHED, COMPANY, WHICH IS REGISTERED IN THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY yesterday HANDELSE OF ARUBA IN NUMBER 29257.0 .;
C. THE SETTING UP AND MAINTAINING AN AREA IN WHICH VARIOUS GAMING AND ENTERTAINMENT OTHER GAMES ARE PRESENTED TO THE PUBLIC AND WHICH NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINKS AND LIGHT, DELICATESSEN, ICE-CREAM AND OTHER LIGHT REFRESHMENTS BE SOLD;
D. THE IMPORT, EXPORT AND MARKETING OF GAMING, ENTERTAINMENT GAMES AND COMPONENTS THEREOF, AND THE PROVISION OF COMMERCIAL AND TECHNICAL SERVICE BENEFIT OF THAT MARKET AND MAINTENANCE OF THESE PRODUCTS;
E. THE PROVISION OF SERVICES IN THE FIELD OF ADVERTISING AND CLAIMS, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED PURPOSE: THE DESIGN, THE (DO) PRODUCING THE (DO) PLACES AND (DO) of billboards MAINTAINED AND SIMILAR FACILITIES FOR THE BENEFIT PUBLIC IN PUBLIC OR sPACES, ON THE applicant OR WITH CONSENT TO THAT AREA EXECUTIVES; AND
F. THE ACQUISITION, POSSESSION, DISPOSE, MANAGE AND DEVELOP, RENT, lease, mortgage or IN GENERAL OBJECTIONS OF REGISTER OF GOODS AND / OR ANY RIGHT OR INTEREST IN THE REGISTER OF GOODS BOTH ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND ON BEHALF OF THIRD PARTIES;
alles IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE APPLICABLE REGULATIONS.
2. UNDER THE COMPANY'S AIM IS ALSO INCLUDED THE FOUNDING AND ACQUIRE of- THE PARTICIPATING IN THE MET TOGETHER, AND USE OF DIRECTORS OF OTHER COMPANIES AND THE (DO) FINANCE EVEN THROUGH THE PROVISION OF GUARANTEES OF OTHER COMPANIES IN PARTICULAR (BUT NOT LIMITED PURPOSE) OF THAT WHICH IS RELATED THE COMPANY IN A GROUP.     
3. WITHIN ITS PURPOSE, THE COMPANY all that PROVIDE WHAT CONNECTION WITH THIS OBJECTIVE TO THE MAXIMUM SENTENCE FOR BOTH THEIR OWN ACCOUNT AND ON BEHALF OF THIRD PARTIES.
Country
aruba
Financial Secrecy Index [more info] 68
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