Paradise Papers Reveal Commerce Secretary Ross Concealed Stake in Russian-Linked Shipping Company

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) revealed through the Paradise Papers investigation that U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross Jr. maintained a stake in Navigator Holdings, a shipping firm that received millions of dollars annually from a Russian gas company whose key owners included Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law and a sanctioned Russian oligarch. Ross divested most of his business assets before joining Trump’s Cabinet in February 2017, but kept his stake in Navigator Holdings Ltd., incorporated in the Marshall Islands, with offshore entities controlling 31.5 percent of the company in 2016.

Background

Navigator Holdings’ largest customer was Moscow-based gas and petrochemicals company Sibur, which contributed more than $68 million in revenue to Navigator since 2014. Sibur’s two key owners were Kirill Shamalov, married to Putin’s youngest daughter, and Gennady Timchenko, a sanctioned oligarch whose activities were described by the U.S. Treasury Department as “directly linked to Putin.” Ross had promised during his confirmation hearings to divest from holdings that could present conflicts of interest, but failed to disclose the full extent of his Navigator Holdings stake and its Russian connections.

Days after reporters working on the Paradise Papers informed Ross they were about to reveal his holdings, he shorted Navigator stock, taking out a short position valued between $100,001 and $250,000 on October 31, 2017 - the day before the Commerce Department sent a statement to the New York Times. This suspicious timing raised questions about potential insider trading and abuse of confidential information.

Significance

This revelation exposed systematic deception by a senior Cabinet official about financial conflicts of interest involving sanctioned Russian oligarchs and Putin’s family. Ross’s continued financial ties to Russian-linked entities while serving as Commerce Secretary - responsible for enforcing trade policy and sanctions - represented a fundamental breach of public trust. The Paradise Papers investigation demonstrated how offshore tax havens enabled senior Trump administration officials to conceal conflicts of interest that compromised U.S. national security and economic policy. Ross’s failure to fully divest and his suspicious stock trading immediately before the Paradise Papers publication suggested consciousness of guilt and deliberate concealment of impermissible financial relationships.