Emma Watson, the British actress and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador, was reportedly named in the so-called Panama Papers as having business dealings in a Caribbean tax haven.
Specifically, Watson was listed as a shareholder in one of about 200,000 offshore corporations exposed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in a database published on its website Monday,
Fox News reported.
While the revelation doesn't prove wrongdoing, it sparked criticism in light of ICIJ reports detailing the use of such corporations by wealthy individuals to hide money from domestic tax collectors, Fox News said.
Watson reportedly used an entity called Falling Leaves Ltd to purchase a London home worth more than $4 million USD in 2013,
according to The Times of London.
Falling Leaves Ltd was set up in the British Virgin Islands by the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in selling offshore companies and is subject among 11 million confidential documents leaked last month.
A spokesman for Watson said the actress set up the offshore company "for the sole purpose of protecting her anonymity and safety,"
The Spectator reported.
"Emma receives absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever — only privacy," the spokesman said.
Some have said the leak could damage the political activities of the actress, who starred as Hermione Granger in the "Harry Potter" films.
Watson, 26, advocates for gender equality as the leader of the UN's HeForShe campaign and recently called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to erect a statue honoring suffragettes in Parliament Square.
Other prominent individuals whose names have surfaced in the Panama Papers include Prime Minister David Cameron, martial-arts star Jackie Chan, Simon Cowell, and the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson,
USA Today reported.
Reports of Watson's name being found in the Panama Papers triggered a flood of comments on Twitter.
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