Justin Trudeau is young and attractive. The gossip site E! Online once even gushed that he is a "beautiful, sticky-sweet specimen." This ex-pot smoker, ex-bouncer and ex-backbencher in parliament ran for election for his country’s highest office a few years back pledging to make Canada more modern and tolerant. He had so much in common with former United States President Barack Obama that many called him the "Canadian Obama." Many had, or continue to have, high hopes for the two politicians, particularly younger voters, and both promised in their campaigns to deliver a better and, above all, fairer future.

Trudeau won parliamentary elections in 2015 running on the slogan “Real Change.” He promised to break with an old system of politics that had been custom-tailored to the interests of elites, to increase taxes on the rich and to wage war on tax havens. Trudeau has repeated those goals several times since becoming prime minister. In 2016, Trudeau said he had been elected in part because he promised everyone would be “paying their fair share of taxes” in the future. “The level of awareness that citizens of the world are beginning to take in regard to tax avoidance and evasion is a good thing,” he said, “but it’s certainly something we will be working on together as a community of nations.”

The Paradise Papers, however, raise suspicions that one of Trudeau’s closest party allies, a man who counts among the prime minister's most ardent supporters, is involved in a tax avoidance scheme. That confidant is Stephen Bronfman, who has been friends with Trudeau for years. A businessman from Montreal, Bronfman comes from one of Canada’s richest families, which earned its fortune through real estate and other dealings. Like his father Charles, Bronfman has been successful in the business world, influential on the political stage and active as a philanthropist.

Trudeau’s political rise is tightly linked to Bronfman. When Trudeau first set out to become the leader of the Liberal Party in 2013, he asked Bronfman to help out with fundraising. And when Trudeau successfully landed the position, he put Bronfman in charge of filling the party’s war chest. In 2014, he raised more money than the party had in years, an effort that helped secure Trudeau’s victory as the country’s next prime minister. A short time later, when Trudeau traveled to Washington to meet with Obama, Bronfman also accompanied him. As its chief fundraiser, Bronfman remains a major Liberal Party force today.

The Paradise Papers raise the question: Was the financial behavior exhibited by Bronfman, now a member of the national board of the Liberal Party, always consistent with the young Canadian prime minister’s political agenda? The documents indicate that over a period of decades, Stephen Bronfman and his father have transferred at least $34 million to a mysterious trust located on the Cayman Islands. Furthermore, Stephen Bronfman’s investment company Claridge Inc. was, at least for a time, involved in the supervision of the trust assets. Internal documents suggest taxes may even have been evaded.

According to reporting conducted by Canadian public broadcaster CBC, the Toronto Star newspaper and the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the name of the entity at the center of this story is Kolber Trust, named after Leo Kolber, a former Liberal Party senator. Kolber was extremely influential in Canada for years and also had close ties with the Bronfmans. At times he managed the family’s assets, served the family as an adviser and also became Stephen Bronfman’s godfather. The trust that bears his name is located on the island of Grand Cayman. Founded in 1991, its legal structure resembles that of a foundation. According to the certificate of incorporation, Leo Kolber has decision-making capacity, but the beneficiary from the very beginning was his son Jonathan. The Paradise Papers show that money for the trust came from his close friends, the Bronfmans, among other sources. Charles Bronfman once provided a $9 million loan and Stephen Bronfman later lent the trust $5 million.

It’s not entirely clear why the Bronfmans would provide their friend Kolber and his family with access to so much money. Over time, it appears the two families’ finances became increasingly intertwined. For a time, Jonathan Kolber also ran a branch of the investment firm Claridge, which the Bronfmans established in Israel in the early 1990s.

Given that tax fairness and closing loopholes, especially those that benefit the rich, is the stated goal of Trudeau’s left-leaning government, the creation and financing of the Kolber Trust is awkward to say the least. If one of the prime minister's closest confidants, who also happens to be a party official, has been using the system of subterfuge offered by trusts and tax havens, it would be indicative of exactly the kind of double standard that Canadian voters are fed up with. When asked to comment, a lawyer representing Jonathan Kolber said, “none of the transactions or entities at issue were effected or established to evade or even avoid taxation.” He added they “were always in full conformity with all applicable laws and requirements.” Bronfman himself did not comment.