![]() Other offshore shell company transactions described in the documents do seem to have broken exchange laws, violated trade sanctions or stemmed from political corruption, according to ICIJ reporters. Steinmetz himself has a personal worth of $6 billion. For example, the shell company Octea is registered to Beny Steinmetz and owes more than US$700,000 in property taxes to the city of Koidu in Sierra Leone, and is $150 million in debt, even though its exports were more than twice that in an average month in the 2012–2015 period. ![]() Some disclosures – tax avoidance in very poor countries by very wealthy entities and individuals for example – led to questions on moral grounds. While many of the transactions were legal, since the data is incomplete, questions remain in many other cases still others seem to clearly indicate ethical if not legal impropriety. The journalists on the investigative team found business transactions by many important figures in world politics, sports, and art. Although it is generally not against the law to own an offshore shell company, reporters found that some of the shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions. In addition to the much-covered business dealings of British prime minister David Cameron and Icelandic prime minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the leaked documents also contain identity information about the shareholders and directors of 214,000 shell companies set up by Mossack Fonseca, as well as some of their financial transactions. Cologne prosecutors are seeking German-born Jürgen Mossack and Panamanian Ramón Fonseca on charges of accessory to tax evasion and forming a criminal organization. In October 2020, German authorities issued an international arrest warrant for the two founders of the law firm at the core of the tax evasion scandal exposed by the Panama Papers. Some media outlets covering the story have used the name "Mossack Fonseca papers". ![]() The documents were dubbed the Panama Papers because of the country they were leaked from, but the Panamanian government expressed strong objections to the name over concerns that it would tarnish the government's and country's image worldwide, as did other entities in Panama and elsewhere. The project represents an important milestone in the use of data journalism software tools and mobile collaboration. After more than a year of analysis, the first news stories were published on April 3, 2016, along with 150 of the documents themselves. Journalists from 107 media organizations in 80 countries analyzed documents detailing the operations of the law firm. SZ asked the ICIJ for help because of the amount of data involved. After SZ verified that the statement did in fact come from the source for the Panama Papers, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) posted the full document on its website. Doe had never worked for any government or intelligence agency and expressed willingness to help prosecutors if granted immunity from prosecution. In a document, Doe cited income inequality as the reason for the action and said the documents were leaked "simply because I understood enough about their contents to realize the scale of the injustices they described". "My life is in danger", the whistleblower told them. " John Doe", the whistleblower who leaked the documents to German journalist Bastian Obermayer from the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung ( SZ), remains anonymous, even to the journalists who worked on the investigation. While offshore business entities are legal (see Offshore Magic Circle), reporters found that some of the Mossack Fonseca shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions. The publication of these documents made it possible to establish the prosecution of Jan Marsalek, who is still a person of interest to a number of European governments due to his revealed links with Russian intelligence, and international financial fraudsters David and Josh Baazov. ![]() The documents contain personal financial information about wealthy individuals and public officials that had previously been kept private. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, former Panamanian offshore law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and compiled with similar leaks into a searchable database. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The Panama Papers ( Spanish: Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. ![]()
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