EXPOSED

Africa’s Richest Woman Exploited Her Country’s Wealth to Make Her Billions: Docs

Newly leaked documents reveal that Isabel dos Santos accessed lucrative deals with the help of a global network of professional service firms.

Isabel dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman, made her billions by exploiting Angola’s wealth with lucrative deals involving land, oil, diamonds, and telecoms when her father was the country’s president, according to newly leaked documents. The trove of more than 700,000 documents obtained by the Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reveals how a global network of professional service firms such as McKinsey & Company and the Boston Consulting Group facilitated her efforts to profit from a country facing extreme poverty, corruption, and a high infant mortality rate. As the daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, she is estimated to be worth more than $2 billion and has claimed that she is a self-made billionaire. The documents reportedly show that dos Santos and her husband—who have built an empire that includes more than 400 global companies and subsidiaries—bought valuable state assets in deals that were often signed by her father. Dos Santos has denied the allegations and accused the Angolan government of a “witch hunt” aimed to discredit her and her father.