Red Bull Heir Exposes How Rich Families Hide Their Money To Avoid Taxes

According to South China Morning Post, Yoovidhya inadvertently exposed their illegal practices when a police investigation, meant to find him, discovered the Panama Papers instead. The Panama Papers, first exposed in 2016, contain 11 million secret financial documents detailing how rich people hide their wealth, including the dealings of the Yoovidhya family.

The Panama Papers show how the billionaire Thai family managed to avoid taxes by undergoing “anonymous money transfers” and paying-off various entities to sign forms for them. In doing so, the family was able to hide exorbitant purchases, such as jets and luxury properties in London.

The source mentioned that the discovery of the documents was also able expose nearly 400 companies, removing about $135 billion of their value; furthermore, the government crackdown on offshore tax havens led to the arrest of the law firm founders who own the Panama Papers.

Founders of law firm Mossack Fonseca were charged for bribery and money-laundering. Unfortunately, Thai Ministry of Finance legal expert Sumaporn Manason explained that Thailand is not fully equipped to tackle money-laundering and terrorist-financing issues.

Manason also mentioned that Thailand is severely missing out on revenues that could help build government structures, such as schools and bridges, since tax avoidance is “legal and common.” As for the Yoovidhya family, they’re not only known for co-founding the popular energy drink Red Bull, but also for their infamous fugitive son “Boss.”

The Red Bull heir was involved in a hit-and-run case almost five years ago, where he crashed his Ferrari killing a motorcycle police officer in the process. Thai police have already issued an arrest warrant for “Boss” and also revoked his passport as well; however, authorities claim that they do not know the whereabouts of the Red Bull heir.

Feature Image via YouTube/Associated Press