The Anatomy of the Web
Hoang's governing metaphor is literal: “a complex web of subsidiaries that are interconnected across multiple sovereignties and are virtually impossible to identify,” spun by “social spiders.” The single most important anatomical fact is the capital chain.
Money is seeded in secrecy havens, routed through respectable conduit hubs, and finally does business in high-risk frontier markets — the sink → conduit → frontier pipeline below. Two mechanics recur in every species: the legal firewall (“each investment has its own paper company”) and beneficial-vs-legal ownership concealment (the gap between the name on paper and the human who really controls the money).
A note for the honest naturalist: nearly all these structures have legitimate uses. Hoang’s thesis is about “playing in the gray” — not that the vehicles are inherently criminal. Each card carries a disposition meter (benign ↔ predatory).
The sink → conduit → frontier pipeline
The book’s thesis in one image: capital rests in sinks, routes through conduits, and does business on the frontier. Only five true conduits exist worldwide; sinks are many. Colour = ecozone (used throughout the guide).
flowchart LR
subgraph S["SINK · capital rests"]
C1[Cayman]:::sink
C2[BVI]:::sink
C3[Samoa]:::sink
C4[Panama]:::sink
end
subgraph M["CONDUIT · routes through"]
D1[Singapore]:::conduit
D2[Hong Kong]:::conduit
end
subgraph F["FRONTIER · does business"]
E1[Vietnam]:::frontier
E2[Myanmar]:::frontier
end
S ==> M ==> F
classDef sink fill:#6b4a2f,color:#fff,stroke:#4d3520;
classDef conduit fill:#3f5138,color:#fff,stroke:#2b3826;
classDef frontier fill:#7c3b23,color:#fff,stroke:#5a2917;
The Species — Structures
Ten distinct corporate “species,” each drawn as an anatomical diagram of how it is built. Grouped into families by function. Click a diagram to enlarge it.
The Grand Web — Tela magna
Not a single species but the assembled colony — the clearest worked example in the book: “Will’s” Singapore family office ($100m+), reconstructed as a stack. (“Will” is Hoang’s pseudonym; see the Princeton excerpt “Playing in the Gray.”)
How the species snap together
Apex device → pooled fund → holdco tiers → SPV leaves → onshore forager. Colour = ecozone (see the sink → conduit → frontier pipeline up top).
flowchart TB F["🏛️ Apex device
Foundation / Trust"]:::sink FUND["🕸️ Main Fund
Guernsey"]:::sink CAY["Cayman subsidiaries
tax-exempt"]:::sink SG["Singapore holdco / SPVs
profit booked here"]:::conduit VN["Vietnam ops"]:::frontier KH["Cambodia ops"]:::frontier MM["Myanmar ops"]:::frontier F --> FUND --> CAY --> SG SG --> VN SG --> KH SG --> MM classDef sink fill:#6b4a2f,color:#fff,stroke:#4d3520; classDef conduit fill:#3f5138,color:#fff,stroke:#2b3826; classDef frontier fill:#7c3b23,color:#fff,stroke:#5a2917;
The Whole Web Assembled
One plausible configuration in which all ten species co-occur in a single living web — a hidden principal at the apex, every structure numbered to its card in Plate I, colour-coded by ecozone. This is how the pieces interact in the wild. Click to enlarge.
flowchart TB CHAIR["🕷️ Chairman — hidden apex
Rex araneus absconditus"]:::apex subgraph SINK["🏝️ SINK · offshore — capital rests, ownership disappears"] FND["⑦ Foundation
Panama · ownerless crown"]:::sink TR["⑥ Discretionary Trust
South Dakota"]:::sink MF["④ Master Fund
Cayman"]:::sink OFEED["⑤ Offshore Feeder
Cayman ELP · blocker"]:::sink UFEED["⑤ US Feeder
Delaware LP"]:::sink SHELL["③ Shell company
BVI · holds 🛥️"]:::sink ORPH["⑨ Orphan SPV
Cayman securitization"]:::sink end subgraph COND["🚰 CONDUIT · routes through, reputably"] HOLD["② Holdco chain
Singapore → BVI → Cayman"]:::conduit SPV1["① SPV · deal A"]:::conduit SPV2["① SPV · deal B"]:::conduit end subgraph FRONT["🌾 FRONTIER · does business, takes risk"] OPS1["⑩ Onshore sub
Vietnam"]:::frontier OPS2["⑩ Onshore sub
Myanmar"]:::frontier end NOM["⑧ Nominees & bearer shares
decorate the register"]:::attr FIX["🕸️ Fixer
frontier gray zone"]:::fauna CHAIR -. controls via .-> FND FND --> TR FND --> MF UFEED --> MF OFEED --> MF MF --> HOLD HOLD --> SPV1 --> OPS1 HOLD --> SPV2 --> OPS2 HOLD --> SHELL MF -. side deal .-> ORPH NOM -. hide owner of .-> HOLD NOM -. hide owner of .-> SHELL OPS1 -. bribes via .-> FIX OPS2 -. bribes via .-> FIX OPS1 -. share-sale profit .-> HOLD classDef apex fill:#2b2317,color:#f3ead3,stroke:#000,stroke-width:2px; classDef sink fill:#6b4a2f,color:#fff,stroke:#4d3520; classDef conduit fill:#3f5138,color:#fff,stroke:#2b3826; classDef frontier fill:#7c3b23,color:#fff,stroke:#5a2917; classDef attr fill:#8a7444,color:#fff,stroke:#5d4c2a; classDef fauna fill:#6d4b7c,color:#fff,stroke:#4a3355; style SINK fill:#f0e4c6,stroke:#8a7444,color:#5b4f3a; style COND fill:#e7eee2,stroke:#3f5138,color:#3f5138; style FRONT fill:#f2e0d8,stroke:#7c3b23,color:#7c3b23;
Read top-to-bottom: the Chairman controls an ownerless Panama foundation ⑦ (with a family trust ⑥ alongside); it seeds a Cayman master-feeder fund ④ fed by US & offshore feeder LPs ⑤; the fund owns a holdco chain ② that spawns one SPV ① per deal into onshore subs ⑩ in Vietnam & Myanmar; a shell ③ parks a passive yacht, an orphan SPV ⑨ handles a securitization side-deal, nominees/bearer shares ⑧ hide the register, and a fixer absorbs the frontier bribery risk. Profit is booked upstream in Singapore.
The Habitats — Jurisdictions
Each jurisdiction is an ecological niche whose climate — tax, secrecy, treaties, speed — lets certain species thrive. The sink / conduit / frontier ecology is drawn from the CORPNET study (Nature Scientific Reports, 2017).
The Fauna — Web-Spinners
The webs don’t spin themselves. The crew is deliberately compartmentalized — each professional sees only their own strand. The social structure is concentric rings with an inverted risk-reward gradient: proceeds concentrate inward to the hidden centre; visibility and blame radiate outward.
The concentric rings
Innermost keeps the money and stays hidden; outermost is the visible “fall guy” who takes the least and risks the most.
flowchart LR A["🕷️ Chairman
hidden apex"]:::c0 --> B["Wealth Manager
secrecy tailor"]:::c1 B --> C["Lawyer · Accountant
architects & legitimizers"]:::c2 C --> D["Company Secretary
& Nominee"]:::c3 D --> E["Fixer
cheap silk · the fall guy"]:::c4 classDef c0 fill:#2b2317,color:#f3ead3,stroke:#000; classDef c1 fill:#5b4f3a,color:#fff,stroke:#3a2f1c; classDef c2 fill:#8a7444,color:#fff,stroke:#5d4c2a; classDef c3 fill:#b7a373,color:#2b2317,stroke:#8a7444; classDef c4 fill:#7c3b23,color:#fff,stroke:#5a2917;
Framing: FATF’s “gatekeeper” vocabulary (Recommendations 22 & 23). The World Bank found >70% of grand-corruption cases used at least one corporate vehicle.