International Consortium Of Investigative Journalists | By: Spencer Woodman | November 07, 2017:
Records reveal huge overseas hoards tied to hedge fund tycoon and Democratic donor James Simons and other ultra-wealthy individuals.
In December 2010, an attorney associated with James H. Simons, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, submitted a secret application to Bermuda’s highest court. He was seeking approval for a set of changes to a trust fund Simons had quietly maintained on the island since 1974.
Getting approval for the changes – which included adding his charitable foundation as a beneficiary of the trust’s fortune – required Simons to give the court, under seal, data relating to his overall wealth. But Simons’ legal team insisted that such filings must be limited. The “exact quantum” of Simons’ wealth was a strictly private matter, trust lawyer John Robert Balfour Richmond argued. The billionaire had no taste for discussion of his fortune.
“A Google search against Mr. Simons’ name will throw up any number of estimations of his or his family’s wealth,” Richmond wrote in a secret affidavit filed with the 2010 request. “Wikipedia, citing Forbes, for example, states his wealth as being US$ 8.5 billion.”
If Richmond sounded dismissive of Forbes’ estimate, one reason may have been simple: The magazine hadn’t captured the full extent of Simons’ wealth.
Richmond knew what Forbes apparently didn’t: In addition to his billions of dollars in U.S. assets, Simons had amassed $7.25 billion in a low-profile Bermudan trust that is one of the largest private trust funds ever discovered. A confidential accounting document attached to the 2010 filing projects the offshore fortune growing to $15 billion by the end of this year and reaching $35 billion by 2030.
The revelation of the massive offshore holding changes the public understanding of Simons’ wealth, offering a case study of how little we know about the fortunes of the planet’s richest people.
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