The Panama Papers - "The biggest leak in the history of data journalism"

[ArcadiaGP]

Found here:

http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/

Revealed: the $2bn offshore trail that leads to Vladimir Putin | News | The Guardian
Panama Papers: Vladimir Putin associates, Jackie Chan identified in unprecedented leak of offshore financial records - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

"Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and submitted encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world. These shell firms enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady.

In the months that followed, the number of documents continued to grow far beyond the original leak. Ultimately, SZ acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, making the leak the biggest that journalists had ever worked with. The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures.

The data provides rare insights into a world that can only exist in the shadows. It proves how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of the world’s rich and famous: from politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes."

You might find it humorous that no Americans are listed. "Trust us on the names we give you.." Right.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Here's an "Explain like I'm 5" summary.

In business, you can avoid taxes by investing in something. If a company makes one million dollars, but spends 500,000 on investing in new technology for their product or something like that, they're only taxed from the remaining 500,000 because that's all of their "profit." (I'm not a businessman so I'm not sure on the complete legality of all the kinds of spending but I think this is a basic summary). This is all normal and fine; all companies require investing in order to grow their company.

So a company in Panama basically made a business in creating fake businesses. Companies could "invest" million of dollars and then it wouldn't be taxed, because according to legal documents it isn't profit, it's an "investment," which is untaxable, and then they would get their money back from the fake business. So imagine if that $500,000 of investments from my above example was fake, and after awhile 90% of the money was given back to the business (I'm assuming the Panamian company took a cut of the money as payment). 2.6 TB of data in total, over 11 million documents and over 200,000 fake companies. According to the website that published the news of the leak, they were contacted by an anonymous source with encrypted files with the data sometime in 2015. Here's am exerpt from the article:
'Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and submitted encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world. These shell firms enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady.'

Apparently there's several trillion dollars of money that should've been taxed and wasnt. Not sure if that means trillions that should've been taxed off of, or trillions of dollars of straight tax money, but either way it's a LOT.
Many political leaders (many seem to be in the Middle East), and celebrities are involved as well. To prevent any one person from being blamed for the leak, hundreds of news organizations are going to release further full details tonight (that's what Ive heard, not sure how true it is) but the list apparently has thousands of people/companies on it. There's 11 million documents though, and even though hundreds of journalists have been going through the data for months, there's still information that has yet to come to light.

TL;DR Big names in business, politics, and sports used fake companies to evade trillions of dollars worth in tax money.

EDIT: Apparently this goes much farther than tax evasion, and includes Syrian war crimes, human trafficking, and more. Here 's a video explaining it.

 

[printcraft]

So clinton foundation connection?

 

[miguel]

And so far, no US politicians' names appear within the documents, because they are just swell folks.

CIA clean these up before making the drop?

 

[kiddchaos]

yep it is sad.

10 Best Tax Havens in the World -- The Motley Fool

 

[ArcadiaGP]

WikiLeaks on Twitter:

Should we release all 11 million #PanamaPapers so everyone can search through them like our other publications?

Yeah, if you're looking for the American names, you might get them soon.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Corporate Media Gatekeepers Protect Western 1% From Panama Leak

 

[2ADMNLOVER]

Wait , what ? The people running our government are corrupt ? Say it ain't so !

 

[femurphy77]

I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! To find out that there are shady dealings going on daily in the world of high finance and power brokering!!!!



I. Don't. Purple.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Wait , what ? The people running our government are corrupt ? Say it ain't so !

I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! To find out that there are shady dealings going on daily in the world of high finance and power brokering!!!!

I. Don't. Purple.

Sure, we know these things... but now there's proof.

 

[MisterChester]

Go to any major news website and there's not a peep about the Panama Papers. The media is protecting the elites.

 

[femurphy77]

Sure, we know these things... but now there's proof.

So now what?



Exactly.



Diddly.

 

[Cameramonkey]

CNN finally picked it up.
Panama Papers: Rich and powerful respond to claims they hid billions offshore - Apr. 4, 2016

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Another ELI5:

When you get a quarter you put it in the piggy bank. The piggy bank is on a shelf in your closet. Your mom knows this and she checks on it every once in a while, so she knows when you put more money in or spend it.

Now one day, you might decide "I don't want mom to look at my money." So you go over to Johnny's house with an extra piggy bank that you're going to keep in his room. You write your name on it and put it in his closet. Johnny's mom is always very busy, so she never has time to check on his piggy bank. So you can keep yours there and it will stay a secret.

Now all the kids in the neighborhood think this is a good idea, and everyone goes to Johnny's house with extra piggy banks. Now Johnny's closet is full of piggy banks from everyone in the neighborhood.
One day, Johnny's mom comes home and sees all the piggy banks. She gets very mad and calls everyone's parents to let them know.

Now not everyone did this for a bad reason. Eric's older brother always steals from his piggy bank, so he just wanted a better hiding spot. Timmy wanted to save up to buy his mom a birthday present without her knowing. Sammy just did it because he thought it was fun. But many kids did do it for a bad reason. Jacob was stealing people's lunch money and didn't want his parents to figure it out. Michael was stealing money from his mom's purse. Fat Bobby's parents put him on a diet, and didn't want them to figure out when he was buying candy.

Now in real life, many very important people were just caught hiding their piggy banks at Johnny's house in Panama. Today their moms all found out. Pretty soon, we'll know more about which of these important people were doing it for bad reasons and which were doing it for good reasons. But almost everyone is in trouble regardless, because it's against the rules to keep secrets no matter what.

And a response:

Unfortunately, there's really no one to hold these people directly accountable (like a mom), since it seems like some of the most powerful, influential people in the world are the ones implicated in this.

It will be really interesting to watch as the list of people implicated from Western countries grow, and the big question is "what will happen?" Certainly, it is interesting to see influential people from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and East Asia implicated in this, but accusing the Saudi Royal Family or Chinese elite of corruption is like shooting fish in a barrel, and I'm sure no one will be shocked to learn that Putin isn't squeaky clean.

The real test will be how the media (at large, rather than the journalists releasing this data) and public react as more people from Western nations are implicated in this. Hopefully, we will be able to hold these people accountable, but I'm not exactly holding my breath, since we can't know how deep this rabbit hole goes. If 2 or 3 U.S. senators are implicated, they will probably be run out of office. But if 15 or 20 (or even more, though I shudder at the thought...) are implicated, at some point, you have to ask whether the government will respond to the will of the public and hold their peers accountable...

TL;DR The scary part is that there's not really anyone to hold these people directly accountable, since some of the wealthiest, most powerful people in the world will likely be implicated in this.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Kremlin hits out as 'Panama Papers' finger Putin circle | News , World | THE DAILY STAR

A furious Kremlin said Monday it was the target of a plot to destabilise Russia after a massive leak of confidential documents fingered President Vladimir Putin's close associates along with other world leaders in allegations of shady offshore financial dealings.

A year-long worldwide media investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents, leaked from a Panama-based law firm with offices in 35 countries, exposed a tangle of offshore financial dealings by the elite, from Putin's aides to relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, sports celebrities and screen stars.

Panama papers: China censors online discussion

Iceland PM: “I will not resign”

Mossack Fonseca leaks reveal Xi Jinping's family links to offshore companies

 

[kiddchaos]

Ever see that series Mr Robot ?


Shell Companies

 

[Twangbanger]

The integrity of the original data sources will be questioned - the specter of blackmail will be raised - and this thing will blow over quicker than you can say "Ashley Madison."

(Eat yer heart out, Denny).

 

[HoughMade]

Still waiting to see what the big "get" is from this.

...other than populists continuing to blame the rich for all their troubles....but that was going to happen regardless.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Still waiting to see what the big "get" is from this.

...other than populists continuing to blame the rich for all their troubles....but that was going to happen regardless.

Eh, things are happening. Just slowly.

Iceland Prime Minister Resigns - The Reykjavik Grapevine

 

[HoughMade]

Eh, things are happening. Just slowly.

Iceland Prime Minister Resigns - The Reykjavik Grapevine

Read deeper. What did he do wrong? Non disclosure? Of what? What did he influence improperly? How did he use his position to benefit himself rather than the citizens?

None of what may illegal (other than data breach) is clear to me. There is plenty of supposition, but that's about it.