Panama Papers

Not a cigar brand. Rather, 11.5 million documents. Not pages...11.5 million documents. That’s how many Panama Papers there were, all from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

The Panama Papers were anonymously leaked documents, detailing the financial deets and attorney-client info of 200,000+ offshore entities.

What’s all the fuss with these offshore entities, which are totally legal? You’re allowed to have offshore entities, sure...but you’re not allowed to do things like hide your money in them from the IRS if you’re an American. Yep, even if you work abroad, you still have to report all that money you made to the IRS, whether they make you pay taxes on it or not. The Panama Papers, going back to the 1970s, exposed how many high-profile people used offshore entities to commit fraud, tax evasion, and other not-legal-at-all actions. We’re talking heads of state, prime ministers, CEOs, political donors, and even spy bank accounts.

People from dozens of countries had their laundry aired for the world to see...much of it dirty. Besides the people in the papers, Panama isn’t happy about the Panama Papers either. Panama says, “Hey world, we’re more than papers.” To which the rest of the world says, “sure you are, but Mossack Fonseca Papers just isn’t nearly as catchy and memorable.”

The Panama Papers hit the world hard, with many countries making new laws and starting investigations into tax fraud and other illegal activities in over 82 countries. Over $1.2 billion has been recouped, in 22 countries. An economic researcher mentioned that the fear of getting found out has potentially increased tax compliance, too. Banks were probed, revealing money laundering schemes and criminal transactions.

And the worldwide slap-fest fallout continues.