Panama Papers
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The Panama Papers was a 2016 leak of millions of confidential documents from a Panamanian law firm that revealed how wealthy individuals and companies around the world used offshore accounts and shell companies to hide money and avoid taxes. The leak mattered because it exposed previously secret financial dealings of politicians, celebrities, and business leaders, sparking global investigations and raising questions about financial transparency and corruption.
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Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the leak on April 15, 2016 (as of May 19, 2016) The Panama Papers (Spanish: Papeles de Panamá) are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published from April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, the former Panamanian offshore law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and compiled with similar leaks into a searchable database.
The documents contain personal financial information about wealthy individuals and public officials previously private. Their publication made it possible to prosecute Jan Marsalek, a person of interest to a number of European governments and revealed his links with Russian intelligence, and international financial fraudster Harald Joachim von der Goltz. While offshore business entities are legal, reporters found that some of the Mossack Fonseca shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions.