NewsGuild asks Treasury Secretary Yellen to investigate Alden’s secretive offshore ownership of news chains

As New York vulture fund Alden Global Capital takes steps to take majority control of Tribune Publishing, The NewsGuild-CWA has requested a federal inquiry into Alden’s secretive offshore ownership structure.

Alden has long headquartered many of its investment funds in the Cayman Islands, an international tax secrecy haven, and its shares of both MNG and Tribune are held by shell companies there.

“In an era when foreign governments and non-state actors have sought to use news outlets to undermine the public’s faith in democracy and democratic institutions, it is more important than ever to scrutinize foreign investment in news outlets on which millions of Americans rely,” the letter states.

In fact, the percentage of Alden’s ownership by “non-U.S. persons,” as SEC filings describe some of the hedge fund’s investors, has increased dramatically.

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