Overview

The Panama Papers Leak refers to a massive disclosure of 11.5 million documents obtained from the Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca & Co., which revealed how businesses, government officials and other high-profile figures were using fake companies to evade taxes and cover up various other criminal activities, including bribery, fraud, drug trafficking and human trafficking.

Background

On April 3rd, 2016, a collection of over 11.5 million records were released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ),^[1][4] the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and upwards of 100 news organizations. According to the Panama Papers website, the 2.6 terabyte set of documents collected since the 1970s were initially obtained by Süddeutsche Zeitung in 2015 from an anonymous source. The leak revealed that the firm Mossack Fonseca & Co. had been creating fake offshore businesses for various companies and heads of states from Argentina, Iceland, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Sudan and Moldova.^[11] Additionally, other government officials, athletes, celebrities and their close associates were named from over 30 countries. According to the "Data Methodology"^[5] page on the Panama Papers site, the "full list of companies and people linked to them" will be released in May 2016. That day, the ICIJ released a video on YouTube about the leaks, which noted that Mossack Fonseca assisted companies involved in supplying fuel to the Syrian war force, bribery, human trafficking and drug trafficking (shown below).

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

Following initial reports of the leak, posts about news reached the frontpage of various subreddits, including /r/explainlikeimfive,^[2] /r/news,^[8] /r/worldnews^[9] and /r/europe.^[10] Additionally, the /r/PanamaPapers^[3] subreddit was launched for discussions about the leaks, which gained over 28,500 subscribers in the first 24 hours.

That afternoon, Edward Snowden posted a tweet referring to the documents as the "biggest leak in the history of data journalism" (shown below, left). Meanwhile, Wikileaks tweeted a poll asking if the papers should be made public and searchable (shown below, left).^[13] Within 24 hours, the tweets gathered upwards of 26,000 and 6,000 retweets respectively.

That evening, Redditor amawesome1 submitted a That Would Be Great image macro reacting to the news to /r/AdviceAnimals,^[4] where it received upwards of 6,600 votes (91% upvoted) and 400 comments over the next day (shown below, left). On April 4th, Redditor salawm posted a 60s Spider-Man image macro commenting on the scandal (shown below, right).

Chinese Censorship

On April 4th, BBC News^[6] reported that China appeared to be censoring posts on social media sites about the leaks, which contained information that Chinese President Xi Jinping's brother-in-law Deng Jiagui had "hundreds of millions" in various offshore assets. The article contained a screenshot of an empty topic page on Sina Weibo for the Panama Papers hashtag (shown below).

WikiLeaks' Response

Also on April 4th, Wired^[16] ran a statement from Gerald Ryle, the director of ICIJ, who implicitly criticized WikiLeaks for questionable journalistic practices in explaining the organization's decision not to publicly release the data in order to protect the privacy of "innocent private individuals."

We’re not WikiLeaks. We’re trying to show that journalism can be done responsibly.

On the following day, WikiLeaks responded to ICIJ's statement via Twitter^[17] by slamming the latter group as a Washington DC-based institution backed by private and corporate funds, along with a link to a tweet defending the works of WIkiLeaks posted by American journalist Chase Madar.

Social Media Hashtags

After Panama Papers documents revealed that the father of United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron was a client of Mossack Fonseca, Cameron was pressured to publish his tax and earnings records from 2009 to 2015. Among the figures were a $282,000 gift from his mother and a $382,000 inheritance from his father in 2011, which many speculated may have been attempts at tax evasion. On April 10th, Twitter users began posting parody music lyrics mocking the financial scandal along with the hashtag #CameronTaxSongs^[21] (shown below).

On May 4th, 2016, The New York Times^[19] reported that the pro-Panama hashtag #PanamaIsMoreThanPapers^[20] began trending on social media in the wake of the leaks in posts intended to improve the reputation of the Central American country.

Offshore Leaks Database

On May 7th, 2016, the ICIJ announced that searchable database containing information from the Panama Papers would be launched the following Monday.^[23] That day, a post about the announcement reached the front page of the /r/worldnews subreddit, gaining upwards of 7,600 votes (92% upvoted) and 800 comments. On May 9th, the Offshore Leaks Database^[22] was officially launched, which contains "320,000 offshore companies and trusts" connected with the Panama Papers and Offshore Leaks investigations (shown below). Additionally, several members of the ICIJ announced they would be participating in an "ask me anything" thread on the /r/PanamaPapers on May 11th regarding the latest revelations.

Impact

As of April 6th, the leaked documents have been linked to at least a dozen of current or former heads of state, including many dictators who have been internationally condemned for looting their countries, as well as over 60 relatives and associates of politicians and high-ranking officials in international and non-governmental organizations. In addition, the documents also implicated several dozens of well-known public figures outside of the political realm, most notably British reality TV producer Simon Cowell, British royalty Sarah Ferguson (Duchess of York), British activist and Paul McCartney's ex-wife Heather Mills, Hong Kong actor Jackie Chan, American film studio executive David Geffen, late American film director Stanley Kubrick, Puerto Rican singer Daddy Yankee and Argentine football star Lionel Messi, among many others.

Icelandic Prime Minister's Resignation

Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson was among the first public officials to face the consequences of being embroiled in the massive scandal, as the leaked documents alleged that he concealed millions of dollars' worth of family assets through an offshore company and failed to declare his interest before entering parliament in 2009. On April 4th, the day after the leak, Gunnlaugsson initially denied any wrongdoing and stated he would not resign in the wake of the revelations during a press conference; however, after an estimated number of 22,000 to 24,000 people staged a protest calling for his resignation outside the parliament that same day, Gunnlaugsson ultimately announced his temporary leave^[18] from the office on April 5th.

Heads of States

Public Officials

Sports

Entertainment

Search Interest

External References