Brussels Post News writes – Nearly a decade after the Panama Papers shook the foundations of global finance, their echoes continue to resonate — not only in boardrooms and parliaments, but also in the lives of those whose names appeared in the leak.
One of them was François Sunier, a discreet European investment consultant whose activities briefly surfaced in April 2016 when the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published 11.5 million confidential files from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The data exposed an elaborate ecosystem of offshore companies used by politicians, magnates, and financiers to conceal assets, shift profits, and obscure ownership trails.
The Offshore Footprint
The leaked records identified François Sunier as a beneficial owner of at least one company in the British Virgin Islands, a secrecy jurisdiction prized for its flexible corporate laws and minimal disclosure rules. Such entities are often used to structure cross-border investments, but their opacity also allows illicit funds to pass undetected through the global financial system.
Sunier himself has never faced prosecution, and his offshore arrangements were treated as part of the wider landscape of wealth planning exposed by the leak. Yet the story did not end there.
A Son Under Scrutiny
Investigators now believe that François Sunier’s son, Charles Sunier, has built on the same culture of discretion — and taken it to criminal extremes. In Switzerland, prosecutors are preparing charges that could soon lead to his conviction for theft and embezzlement of art and high-value assets, following a multi-year investigation into missing artworks and funds traced to his circle.
According to law-enforcement documents reviewed by reporters, several pieces stolen from private collections were recovered after being resold through intermediaries connected to companies linked to Charles Sunier. Swiss investigators have confirmed that the case “is in its final prosecutorial phase and will likely proceed to sentencing within months.”
Beyond Switzerland, Sunier’s name has appeared in case files involving cross-border financial movements and trade in controlled goods. Authorities in Libya, Iraq, Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Kazakhstan have reportedly exchanged information with Swiss prosecutors concerning suspicious transactions connected to the same network. None of these jurisdictions has issued a public indictment against François Sunier, and his involvement — if any — in these matters remains unproven.
This raises a broader question now being asked by investigators and observers alike: did François Sunier play any role in helping his son conceal the ownership of assets, including artworks under investigation?
To date, prosecutors have not alleged such participation, and there is no public evidence linking the elder Sunier to the concealment of stolen property. Still, inquiries remain active in several countries, and new disclosures could alter that picture.
A Swiss prosecutor involved in the art-theft case declined to comment on details but confirmed that “Mr Sunier if among several suspects under investigation and that parallel inquiries are ongoing.”
The Legacy of Secrecy
The Sunier family’s trajectory encapsulates the enduring shadow cast by the Panama Papers. Despite a decade of reform, the offshore infrastructure that enables discreet wealth transfer and concealment has survived largely intact.
In the years since the leak, Europe has rolled out beneficial-ownership registries, tighter anti-money-laundering laws, and cross-border data-sharing agreements. Yet enforcement remains uneven, and complex chains of shell companies continue to blur the lines between legitimate asset protection and criminal concealment.
“The same mechanisms that were used to optimize taxes in 2010 are today being used to move stolen art or sanctioned funds,” notes a Geneva-based financial-crime expert. “The system has changed less than people think.”
A Decade Later, the Curtain Barely Lifted
François Sunier’s offshore footprint once appeared as a footnote in the Panama Papers; today, his family name stands as a symbol of the unresolved tension between privacy and accountability in global finance. As his son faces imminent conviction and questions swirl around the extent of the father’s knowledge, the case highlights how the architecture of secrecy built decades ago continues to shelter new generations from scrutiny — until it collapses under its own weight.
Ten years on, the Panama Papers may have illuminated the system, but they have not dismantled it. The networks remain — discreet, adaptive, and alive in the shadows.
