Seventy offshore shell companies were used to move about $6 billion from Russia to the west, according a leak of 1.3 million banking records. The leaks also show that companies—particularly those working with the now-defunct Lithuanian bank Ūkio bankas—appear to be using Canadian addresses to launder money. (Globe and Mail, The Guardian)

Talking point: Previous leaks, including the Panama Papers, showed that many wealthy Canadians use shell companies and are rarely successfully pursued by the Canada Revenue Agency for any owed taxes. These leaks seem to show that money launderers have caught on to the lack of regulatory oversight in Canada. Part of the problem is that Canada lacks a national company registry, and many provincial registries charge significant fees and their records can’t be directly accessed online. Canada’s growing role as a shell-company base brings in a tiny amount of money via registration fees, but the real cash remains offshore.