The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities.[1] The leaked documents were created by Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca;[2] some date back to the 1970s.[3]
The leaked documents illustrate how wealthy individuals, including public officials, are able to keep personal financial information private.[4] While offshore business entities are often not illegal, reporters found that some of the shell corporations were used for illegal purposes, including fraud, kleptocracy, tax evasion, and evading international sanctions.[5]
"John Doe", who leaked the documents to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), remains anonymous, even to journalists on the investigation. "My life is in danger", he told them.[6] In a May 6 statement, John Doe cited income inequality, and said he leaked the documents "simply because I understood enough about their contents to realise the scale of the injustices they described". He added that he has never worked for any government or intelligence agency and expressed willingness to help prosecutors. After SZ verified that it did come from the Panama Papers source, ICIJ posted the full written statement on its website