Julio Iglesias used offshore companies to protect his $ 100 million real estate empire

By El País / ICIJ / El Nuevo Herald

You may know Julio Iglesias like this singer of romantic ballads, like him latin lover who has conquered millions of hearts or simply as a successful globetrotter. But do you know Julio Iglesias, the Miami real estate mogul?

On the other side of his tinted glasses, at least three security guards watch the street vendor. Do not cross the threshold that separates mortals from the paradise of millionaires. There isn’t a single sign that points to where the bridge they guard leads to, the only exit and entrance to Miami’s most coveted island. No one, except the rich or their friends, is welcome Indian Creek Island. The tycoons’ bunker and the refuge of Julio Iglesias.

The Spanish singer, who has made hundreds of trendy songs around the world, has also made this island in Miami-Dade County, in the US state of Florida, one of the wealthiest. Indian stream It has an exit to the Atlantic and the Bay of Biscay, overlooking the horizon from the city center and the most absolute security: the passage by land and by sea of ​​any curious person who wishes to spy on the stars, bathe in its private docks or stroll in its luxury yachts, is controlled.

Julio Iglesias has become the undisputed king of the millionaires’ bunker. He came to invest a fortune that amounts to approximately $ 112 million in five properties, based on the current market value of homes on the official Miami-Dade County Register. But his name does not appear in the land register because it is hidden behind five companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.

The documents proving that you are the beneficiary of these companies are part of Pandora Papers, journalistic work coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The Spanish singer is linked to 20 companies created and managed by Trident Trust, a law firm specializing in the registration of offshore companies. Iglesias shares ownership of 16 of these stationers with his wife, the Dutch Miranda Rijnsburger. The other four companies are in your name.

In addition to the island’s five mansions, the partnerships have resulted in the acquisition of six other smaller properties in Miami, all near Indian Creek in the surf district, for a total value of nearly $ 4 million. The off the coast G-450 Holding Limited also helped Julio Iglesias buy a private plane.

Most companies are controlled by a trust, the most opaque instrument for controlling assets abroad, called Revocable trust Julio Iglesias de la Cueva. It was established in 1995 in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in order to manage the singer’s assets “for the purposes of succession”.

Iglesias, whose fortune estimated by Forbes amounts to 800 million euros, is one of the few millionaires with so many companies off the coast, some of them have been founded since the late 1990s. It is possible that some of those mentioned in a series of emails between his lawyers and the firm Trident Trust, registered between 2017 and 2018, have been closed. thereafter, but it shows a clear intention of the non-transparent way in which he decided to move his money, to obtain tax benefits.

Julio Iglesias, the Spanish-speaking musician with the best-selling albums in history, has not had a tax residence in Spain since 1978, according to his representative Juan Velasco, in an interview with the newspaper The country. And he became the pioneer of a group of Spanish artists who decided to move his residence to Miami, as Alejandro sanz in the 2000s or now Rosalia. “I have never stopped paying fucking tax all over the world, where I sing, I pay my taxes”Iglesias assured in an interview in 2015.

Famous in Indian Creek

The dynamics for buying the land in Miami appear to be as follows: A public limited company is founded in a tax haven and through it, the purchase of land is carried out, valued up to $ 25 million for the undeveloped land, and with an area of ​​approximately 7,400 square meters .

The village of Indian Creek took center stage in December 2020, when Donald trump hung on to the president’s desk and gave up admitting defeat at the polls, and his daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, they reorganized their heritage. One of the vacant lots in Iglesias was sold to the famous couple for $ 32,179,000., according to the official figure recorded by Miami County reported by the American press. However, the property records have not yet released the name of the last owner of this land. The land coincides with the four plots that Iglesias owns without construction in the most privileged area of ​​the island, which enjoys an exclusive view of downtown Miami.

In 2008 Iglesias bought the house at number 30, and in 2017 he asked for $ 150 million for the lot of four vacant lots near his property, which together gave access to nearly 250 meters of exit to the sea.

One such land is the land local media like the South Florida Business Journal claim the former president’s daughter bought. Just a few days ago, a construction truck was waiting at the entrance to the bridge for access to the island. The neighbors think that Ivanka He lives nearby, in an apartment building in Surfside, while his mansion is under construction across the sea.

Ivanka Trump will be surrounded by celebrities. Members of royal families from the Middle East, sports coaches, European millionaires, great businessmen and famous artists are some of the inhabitants of this truly privileged bunker.

“It is the most exclusive and private corner of Miami“, Real estate agent expert in the luxury market, Kevin Kavanaugh provides insurance from his Miami Beach office. The agent explains that to acquire a property on an exclusive island like Indian Creek, the future resident must meet certain requirements, in addition to being a millionaire. “For example, that he has no criminal record,” says Kavanaug. You must also pay dues ranging from $ 100,000 per year for membership and another 250,000 to fund exquisite maintenance.

Published by Infobae

KEEP READING: