This is a guest contribution by Lionel Iruk, Esq. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details.

Over a year ago, in the dark recesses of the internet an undisclosed source contacted the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and submitted over 11 million encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca.  Being one of the largest Panamanian law firms that sells and establishes offshore companies and wealth management structures, Mossack Fonseca generally operates in tax friendly regions such as Switzerland, the British Virgin Islands, and Gaming industry hubs  such as Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.

What are the Panama Papers?

The files also known as the ‘Panama Papers’ stem from a security breach, which has provided journalist sensitive data on some 214,000 companies, covering a period spanning from the 1970s to the spring of 2016. In the wake of the data breach, investigators have searched the homes and offices of about 100 people and commercial enterprises related to the leak. This includes Germany’s Commerzbank, HSH Nordbank, and Hypovereinsbank who have all agreed to pay fines of around 20 million euros, respectively. Since then the United States, UK, and Iceland amongst others have also acquired this leaked data.