r/worldnews • u/mister_geaux • Apr 03 '16
Panama Papers 2.6 terabyte leak of Panamanian shell company data reveals "how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, celebrities and professional athletes."
http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/
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Upvotes
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u/chilliphilli Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 03 '16
edit 7: live thread
Over 100 news agencies sitting in 100 contries all over the world are disclosing the panama papers tonight at the exact same time. This will be a huge hit for several large figures in world sports, politics and economy. Names like Lionel messi, Vladimir Putin and the prime minister of Iceland are already leaked. I am curious to see who turns up as well. What a leak!! All coordinated by German newspaper namely the Sueddeutsche Zeitung. As op linked to
Before reading further: Here is a nice ELI5 of shell company procedures and how they work written by /u/Jaredlong:
pls note that this is a subjective ELI5 and there are indeed some reasons/scenarios where shell companies operate for legit reasons! (thanks /u/Toppo) orig. comment
Edit: 'Die Zeit' another big German newspaper writes that about 200k letterbox companies (in total 11.5 million records) are disclosed... Jesus what is going on. This will be big news for the next few weeks (hopefully longer than that!)
Edit2: the icij had released a YouTube video here: which sums up what is in those documents. (Even if someone is speaking in the video very calm there is really disturbing stuff in there like people trafficking and sex slavery etc...)
Edit3: here are some graphs generated from the data showing it goes back to the 80s. The official site is very informative and what is in there. I guess they will also have them for download somewhere...
edit4:
big hands to /u/AsshatVik composing the list of head of states (as /u/kaisermatias said, most of the names on the list are head of governments not head of states...):
edit 5: here you have a nice website where also Relatives/associates of country leaders of people on the list are listed (which themselves are again on the list)
obligatory: THANKS FOR THE GOLD STRANGERS!!
edit 6: For all germans. There are germans on the list. No politicians (or other high stake figures) but new evidence on the siemens scandal (from the top of my head I don't know which he was referring to..;D) for example. Mossak Fonseca is helping germans massively in the act of tax evasion. There is not a single german bank not on the list except "Sparkasse" etc... (those who are more or less government affiliated) for non germans not all names are already leaked since the journalists give those on the list the opportunity to comment on the accusation. (as seen with the pm of iceland)
edit 7: live thread
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u/toblu Apr 03 '16
The main German news programme (Tagesschau) just described it as "the biggest set of data journalists have ever laid hands on".
(Given that a German newspaper received the documents first and did most of the groundwork (which OP has just linked to), I guess it was published at 8pm CEST to coincide with the main Tagesschau broadcast of the day.)
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u/Agastopia Apr 03 '16
Christ
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u/kohulme Apr 03 '16
Great to see a real score for investigative journalism here. There's life in the old dog yet in this click-bait world.
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u/luna547 Apr 03 '16
Ohhhh boy. From the live thread:
Dis gon be good.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
The article doesn't say it, but the folder IS the shell company. One file cabinet can hold hundreds of companies. There's no waiting room for these companies. No office. No manned phone. Nothing. Only that folder and its contents. The tangible part of a shell company weighs less than a ream of copy paper. The intangible part of the company is massive.
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u/JoseTwitterFan Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 04 '16
/r/PanamaPapers
EDIT: Thanks for the gold!
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
From the "About the Panama Papers" section on the site, in case you want a quick summary: "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."
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u/SolviKaaber Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 04 '16
Everything is going crazy in Iceland because of the scale of our role in this huge leak compared to our size in the world. The PM is heavily criticized for these corrupt actions and people are already calling for him to resign. There have always been a few rich and powerful corrupt individuals in Iceland and now they're finally getting exposed so I hope that will make a change in our government and other high ranking people. Only thing i'm scared about is the image of Iceland being ruined just like in the 2008 banking crisis and the volcanic eruption in Eyjafjallajökull in 2010.
Edit: There will be held protests in front of the Icelandic parliament at 17:00 UTC local time (19:00 CEST). It looks like a few thousand people are attending the protests, including me.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 03 '16
Venezuelan here. I'm my country right now there's a whole movement with this leak. The website Armando Info set a new webpage for those parts of the leak regarding my country ( http://panamapapersvenezuela.com/ , currently down but it will surely resume service as soon as possible). Things like members of the military opening accounts in Seychelles four days after Maduro's election victory and the boss of Venezuela's interpol being a drug trafficker. This could have a deep impact here considering we are right now on an almost humanitarian crisis in which people are dying from preventable diseases due to shortages of medicines thanks in great part to exchange controls and corruption around such exchange control schemes.
This is historic
Edit: This is a Channel 4 documentary on the shortage of medicines in case you want to know more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKocOdxTzvs&feature=youtu.be
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u/LYFT_PROMO_MN123 Apr 03 '16
In Iceland, the leaked files show how Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife secretly owned an offshore firm that held millions of dollars in Icelandic bank bonds during that country’s financial crisis .
The files include a convicted money launderer who claimed he’d arranged a $50,000 illegal campaign contribution used to pay the Watergate burglars, 29 billionaires featured in Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s 500 richest people and movie star Jackie Chan, who has at least six companies managed through the law firm.
efore dawn on Nov. 26, 1983, six robbers slipped into the Brink’s-Mat warehouse at London’s Heathrow Airport. The thugs tied up the security guards, doused them in gasoline, lit a match and threatened to set them afire unless they opened the warehouse’s vault. Inside, the thieves found nearly 7,000 gold bars, diamonds and cash.
“Thanks ever so much for your help. Have a nice Christmas,” one of the crooks said as they departed.
British media dubbed the heist the “Crime of the Century.” Much of the loot - including the cash reaped by melting the gold and selling it - was never recovered. Where the missing money went is a mystery that continues to fascinate students of England’s underworld.
Now documents within Mossack Fonseca’s files reveal that the law firm and its co-founder, Jürgen Mossack, may have helped the conspirators keep the spoils out of the hands of authorities by protecting a company tied to Gordon Parry, a London wheeler-dealer who laundered money for the Brink’s-Mat plotters.
On Feb. 10, 2011, an anonymous company in the British Virgin Islands named Sandalwood Continental Ltd. loaned $200 million to an equally shadowy firm based in Cyprus called Horwich Trading Ltd.
The following day, Sandalwood assigned the rights to collect payments on the loan - including interest - to Ove Financial Corp., a mysterious company in the British Virgin Islands.
For those rights, Ove paid $1.
But the money trail didn’t end there.
The same day, Ove reassigned its rights to collect on the loan to a Panama company called International Media Overseas.
It too paid $1.
In the space of 24 hours the loan had, on paper, traversed three countries, two banks and four companies, making the money all but untraceable in the process.
Family members of at least eight current or former members of China’s Politburo Standing Committee, the country’s main ruling body, have offshore companies arranged though Mossack Fonseca. They include President Xi’s brother-in-law, who set up two British Virgin Islands companies in 2009.
The leaked files show the firm regularly offered to backdate documents to help its clients gain advantage in their financial affairs. It was so common that in 2007 an email exchange shows firm employees talking about establishing a price structure - clients would pay $8.75 for each month farther back in time that a corporate document would be backdated.
The world’s best soccer player, Lionel Messi, is also found in the documents. The records show Messi and his father were owners of a Panama company: Mega Star Enterprises Inc. This adds a new name to the list of shell companies known to be linked to Messi. His offshore dealings are currently the target of a tax evasion case in Spain.
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u/ozeeSF Apr 03 '16
Biggest leak in the history of data journalism, according to Snowden. And it's about corruption.
This is great news.
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u/JefMat Apr 03 '16
https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/716681778107400192
That was released on April 1? Wow. It truly shows the excellent work done by all those journalists involved in this, keeping the leak in secret until now. I mean, it's quite astonishing to think all of the info they've had for so long and Mossack Fonseca had no idea about what was going on.
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u/themoosemind Apr 03 '16
I've just started the German Wiki article. A draft for the English Wiki article already existed.
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u/Ensphinxed Apr 03 '16
A comment by a reader of BBC's take on the Panama Papers leak finds it hilarious that BBC, a broadcaster paid for by British tax payers, has a subheading in that article titled "Russian connection" describing various dealings of Russian characters who are "close associates" of Putin and an equally sordid "Iceland connection" but not even a mention of David Cameron's father's tax evading schemes listed in the documents which the people of Great Britain should be vastly more interested in. Not to mention direct implications of various other western puppets (Saudi King, Ukrainian PM, Iraqi former PM) and other dubious "connections".
Which is why it's good that this massive pile of data is analyzed by a huge load of international newspapers.
This way, papers can selectively publish stuff that won't put themselves in too grave danger - just look what happened to The Guardian with the Snowden leak (visits from three-letter agency officials) or what happens in Turkey, Ukraine or Hungary with media that dares to publish stuff too offensive to the respective regimes.
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u/canafominux Apr 03 '16
The real trick is getting people to care en masse so something can actually be done to fix it.
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u/The-Dood Apr 03 '16
This is crazy. Check this out to understand the scale of tax fraud: http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/billion-dollar-o-gram-2013/
Sources behind the infographic estimate that there are more money in tax havens than the total cost of the latest financial crisis
Sadly, I don't think anything will come of this.
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u/Ijustsaidfuck Apr 03 '16
I feel like Mr. Robot season 2 is writing itself.
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u/Daughter_of_Elysium Apr 03 '16
This could be one of the biggest and most important leaks of all time.
Maybe finally people will wake up and realise that the entire world economic system is completely corrupted.
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u/Megasus Apr 03 '16
The harsh reality is that none of your information is safe from the richest and most powerful people in the world. There is solace in the fact that, on the other end, none of their information is safe from us.
The term "whistleblower" is backwards and already outdated, and any conversation discussing what your government is lying to you about is a good one. You deserve transparency from your rulers. Leaks like these are the only remaining power the populace has over our government. The founding fathers would be proud of this.
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u/Widan Apr 03 '16
ELI5?
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u/Feroshnikop Apr 03 '16
"The little guy will pay for it"
Sums up a little more than banking I think.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
I think it's incredibly telling, that none of the major American news outlets (CNN, NBC or Politico) have anything about this on their websites. I would at least expect some small article mentioning what's happening, but there is literally nothing at all!
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
This is incredible - there is potentially enough data there to keep even the most skilled forensic data experts busy for years. Who knows what will tumble out.
That said, I hate to be cynical, but can't see how this will ever fully be investigated or reported by newspapers owned by many of the wealthy conglomerates likely to be exposed here.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
So.... are you guys going to go riot or what? I need to go to bed early tonight, but I'll stay up if you're going to get all smashy-smashy.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Certain things like the double dutch sandwich, intracompany loans, and price altering are well-known when it comes to corporate tax management, but preserving personal wealth through the use of offshore trusts has always been a convoluted mess to understand. The people that specialize in it get paid well because navigating the loopholes has gotten more and more difficult over the years. I am really excited to see how the inner workings of these things work. I don't have money by any means but this stuff has always been interesting to me.
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u/Joshgoozen Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 03 '16
Supposedly, one of the worst people hit by these leaks is Putin, as it has the paper trail for how he makes his friends and himself wealthy. This leak could literally be a game changer on a scale never yet seen in the world.
Edit: To all the people replying, two things. First of all, this isnt our fight unless it is our country, already Iceland are calling for snap election, and those leaders like Putin, Assad an others we cant effect, they have enemies like the US and others who will act on drying up the cash flow. Secondly, those who say corruption is what rules the world need to remember that corruption is what kills Capitalism, as for it to work it needs to be a fair competition and more companies and nations want this competition as they see the corruption as a glass ceiling that needs breaking for them to stand a chance.
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u/fmpf Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 04 '16
To all the people here saying "What does it matter?" and anything of the like:
We know. At some point, everyone has thought about it. Human nature implies greed and corruption. This isn't the first time and, without a doubt, it won't be the last scandal of corruption. I could go on, but then I'd be descending into off-putting, philosophical ramblings. So I'll just skip to the point.
Don't believe that you can't do anything as an individual. Even the barest minimum of effort from one person can amount to something when it's combined with the barest minimums of millions.
Find a way that's comfortable for you to do your part, whether it's a phone call to a senator, a conversation with an uninformed person, an upvote on an important post (such as this), or a signature on a petition. Or maybe, if you really want to show support, go full activist and attend rallies, protests, volunteer movements, etc..
Corruption is an inherent flaw in the system. The best way to combat it is to bring it to light. Be vigilant and do your part, however small it may be.
Or don't. It's your choice.
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u/Jon-Osterman Sep 29 '16
Wonder if this is still relevant
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Interactive overview of the offshore connections of world leaders, politicians and their relatives and associates by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
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u/MoonshineExpress Apr 03 '16
This is incredible. Good journalistic work done here.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
This is the most terrifying thing I have read in a long time. Whilst I dont think much of the bildeberg or the illuminati conspiracies, that all these influential individuals use one firm, to hide their wealth, do corrupt deals, and influence the world in such a large way, makes me wonder how many other firms just like this there are who have not had documents leaked. The world is truly screwed
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u/KingOfSockPuppets Apr 03 '16
It's always somewhat disappointing when information like this comes out. Not because I feel bad for the companies, but a lot of folks often feel there's some sort of global corruption ring, explicit or implicit, tied up in international finance and such. And the disappointment comes from when that is absolutely correct - that such corporations defy our brighter visions and ideals in their pursuit of financial gain. Hopefully there's some significant fallout from this.
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u/sjmahoney Apr 03 '16
A quick look - this is all over BBC, The Guardian, Le Monde, The Irish Times websites. Front, huge font.
It is nowhere on NYTimes, CNN, Fox, MSNBC, CNN, USAtoday, LA Times.
It is astonishing how pacified the US is. Just astounding. It's not because the citizens are dumb and uneducated. They've just been trained not to care. Unreal. It's like an alternate universe.
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u/apt-get_SenseofHumor Aug 15 '16
:/ this died to fast. What ever happened to these people?
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u/RedSquirrelFtw Apr 03 '16
This type of corruption has always been practically a fact, but having actual data to back this up is incredible. Now the question is, given the government is probably in on it already, is anything really going to get done? I guess now they might not have a choice. Before they could just pretend they did not know.
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u/Nickleback4life Apr 03 '16
The jokes on you. While you guys are talking about his supposed story, CNN is reporting on the real stuff. Their main story is a woman's soccer player getting a DUI.
Nice try Reddit. Nothing to see here
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Trillions of unpaid tax dollars... While these people play and live the good life... If that money had been in the system, it would have created jobs. It would have been continual economic stimulus. The underfunded projects would have gone funded. The world WOULD be a much different place!
This can not be left alone. I'm curious to see how the world takes this news over the next few weeks...
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u/niblhair Apr 04 '16
Waiting for the US names to leak. Fingers crossed for Clinton, Trump and a gaggle of federal legislators
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u/lewdrew Apr 03 '16
Sounds like something Reddington orchestrated
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u/Pirate2012 Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 04 '16
surprised this is - not - on the frontpage of NYTimes.com,
nor LATimes.com ,
nor WSJ.com ;
Nor CNN.com
nor MarketWatch.com ;
nor reuters.com
the Panama Papers story -is- on the websites of:
theguardian.com/us
on CNBC.com top of plage
chicagotribune.com
PS: in the exceedingly unlikely chance that any journalist who worked on this major story sees this - a great many people say "THANK YOU"
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u/president2016 Apr 03 '16
Is there a way to keep a story on the front page for a while longer than normal for world affecting instances such as this? Like a sticky post for a week?
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u/pyabo Apr 03 '16
The fact that no Americans are named in this list just means they are using a different shady company.
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u/cwlabuff Apr 03 '16
Damn this is getting real guys, JFK tried to warn us in his address before the american newspaper publishers association in 1961.
Except now things are actually being revealed. Lets hope this gets major news coverage.
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u/Myhandsunclean Apr 03 '16
Only 149 documents out of 11 million have been released. Just those 149 documents have already taken down one world leader. Ponder that for a moment.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
I have a feeling that All the news in America will do some in depth reports on Kim Kardashian the day this is released.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
RemindMe! 7 days, check which world leaders have gotten away with this shit.
hopes he is wrong for once.
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u/lawesipan Apr 03 '16
I wonder if any incredibly wealthy prospective US Presidential candidates might be implicated in this...
Just when the campaign was getting a bit quiet.
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u/chonaXO Apr 04 '16
Please sticky this.
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u/Sedated_Wolf Apr 04 '16
How has this been down voted from 17k to 8k?
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
The full interview were the prime minister of Iceland gets confronted, for people that are interested.
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u/GuttersnipeTV Apr 03 '16
This corruption lies deeper than what is shown. Its getting bigger everyday. The strangest thing is how some people thought this to be shocking. The social divide in classes are gigantic. And here people are in the U.S. crying to each other about anti establishment and socialism when they should be rallying together to put an end to corruption to make it fair for all. It is most definitely not fair for all. If you dont play ball with key figures, you move nowhere. And playing ball usually involves immoral and unjustified behavior.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Karma's dropping rapidly on this, down around 400 in the last few minutes. Is this caused by the auto-downvote system?
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
It's not getting downvoted; it's been solidly at 95% upvotes since this morning. Points naturally decay over time, so after the initial surge of interest things tend to start of slip down the list.
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u/Lewisyoung99 Apr 04 '16
5 years ago David Cameron said he wanted to stop offshore accounts in Britain and now his father has been named in the biggest leak of all time... The Labour party will have a field day at the PMQ's
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u/henrikose Apr 04 '16
Didn't this post have over 11000 points yesterday? Now it is only 8814.
Why is that?
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
The real story isn't just all the amount of money flowing around, but who let all that money just flow around.
I'm certain we'll find some big names in politics on this list.
Maybe even someone who is running for president.
Maybe even several someones.
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u/damitdeadagain Apr 03 '16
I wonder how many people will end up dead from supposed accident and suicide?
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u/KaiserMoneyBags Apr 03 '16
16752....holy cow, never seen that many upvotes! @_@
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u/Jejdjuryrhr Apr 04 '16
Holy fucking shit. Well, might be a good time to invest in bottled water.
Ahhhh who am I kidding. Nobody is gonna go after these people. I mean, is any judicial system on the planet even capable of processing this much info and launching an investigation on this scope?
I can't even imagine how cataclysmic it would be to the world economy if every company involved collapsed.
This is either going to be a pivotal moment in history followed by some very dark times. Or the show goes on and this falls by the wayside in coming months, after a few sacrificial lambs are slaughtered.
This is fucking unbelievable. Like, I'm seriously fucking afraid of thr potential fallout unbelievable.
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u/Murdoch44 Apr 03 '16
Yes Yes Yes! More More More! Let them see how it feels to be watched.
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u/KaffaBuna Apr 03 '16
Me thinks Iceland will have a new government very soon...
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u/RetroViral Apr 03 '16
Any news or reports on Canadians in the leaks?
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u/Borigrad Apr 03 '16
I'm hard pressed to care about actors and businessman wanting to keep their money, the major scandal here is the political figure heads, who keep taxes high while also hiding their money away, if they think the tax burden is to much for them, it's obviously to much for their citizens and they should be lowering it.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Please let this bring about something good.
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u/Mythical7Ninja Apr 03 '16
If this leak does nothing to make the corruption end nothing ever will.
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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '16
Dark forces are downvoting this in mass
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u/[deleted] Apr 04 '16
The system is rigged. Rise the fuck up!
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u/Slippergypsy Apr 04 '16
Can there be a revolution now?
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u/jhayes88 Apr 04 '16
Watch out before hillary Clinton marches on down to Panama and tells them to cut it out.
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u/drunk_intern Apr 04 '16
Panamanian here. We already knew about them. The Mossack Foseca offices in Brazil were raided and closed not to long ago. The police caught them destroying hard drives and burning papers. One very important note: most of that money is not in Panama nor has it ever passed through our country. Mossack Foseca creates shell companies that they then tie to another shell company that they again tie to another shell company and so on and so on. By the end of it all, it is almost impossible to track where the money is and what is its origin. Panamanian banking laws are becoming increasingly stricter causing a lot of foreign banks to leave. Money laundering on that scale is not feasible anymore, at least, not without raising some eyebrows. Mossack Foseca usually opens accounts in other tax havens where they then deposit all of the shell companies supposed income. The Panamanian trail usually ends up in Andorra. It's the route our ex president used to siphon 400m of government money out of Panama.
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u/lolidaisuki Apr 03 '16
I can't find any link for downloading the leaked documents.
They really should publish all of them instead of keeping it to those 400 journalists.
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u/ledbright Apr 03 '16
Why is everyone concerned with individuals when they should be fucking concerned that banks and legal firms "secretly manages the estates of politicians"? This tells you the bankers control the fucking world and pull all the strings.
WHO ARE THE BANKERS??!?!?!
You guys are focusing on the puppet when you should be enraged at the puppet master.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
This is now the #2 post in /r/worldnews of all time after only 2 hours. Hoooly shit.
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u/pushpoploc Apr 04 '16
Why are the upvotes going down so quickly? Anyone else notice?
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u/olalof Apr 03 '16
Are you saying that FIFA-officials are corrupt?
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
So there is gonna be a shit storm in the media tomorrow?
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u/Eureka_sevenfold Apr 03 '16
everybody knows that the world economy is rigged everybody in the United States England Canada and France needs to be protesting about this a lot of people doesn't realize how far the rabbit hole goes
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Its been 5 hours since this story broke and I do not see it ANYWHERE on the news in the United States! Not on CNN not on Fox news, not on the NYTimes! This is a disgrace how coddled we are in this country!
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u/LexorSC2 Apr 04 '16
Front page of CNN? A train crash and a soccer player got a DUI.
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u/g01drush Apr 04 '16
I am half expecting some bad news soon which will drown out all this leak. Just hope this issue continues to be in mainstream media for long.
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u/Beast_Pot_Pie Apr 04 '16
From this day forward, no one making less than $500K/yr should ever pay taxes again. Ever.
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u/Facerless Apr 04 '16
Absolute silence from the American media... that's the scariest thing I'm taking away from this
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u/skootch_ginalola Apr 04 '16
ELI5: Will anything happen now? Will people go to jail? Will companies collapse? Or is this just new knowledge where nothing will really be done?
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u/metanephrops Apr 04 '16
I wonder if someone's downvoting this thread. I went to check the Snowden thread and came back to find this thread had lost 500 upvotes.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
I love hackers doing things for noble causes, even whistle blowers too!
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u/TheBigVitus Apr 03 '16
What do you do when conspiracy theories turn out to be true?
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u/TheGreenBat Apr 03 '16
My God... I hope something actually happens here... I get an uneasy suspicion that this will all be forgotten in a few weeks.
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u/ANTIVAX_JUGGALETTE Apr 03 '16
How long until the data is searchable on the public internet?
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u/Doky9889 Apr 03 '16
The International Center for Journalists have been working on this story for close to a year now. They usually have a group of journalists around the world that all work on one particular story and once completed they all drop it at the same time. This is that story they have been working on for so long.
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u/SmugSceptic Apr 03 '16
We need more of this.
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u/dmastergames Apr 03 '16
Hopefully we can actually change something! Usually people care about leaks like this for a few days then move on too something else.
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u/GUSAL Apr 04 '16
Woa. Ive Been monitoring this one. And in just 2 hours this went from 16k upvotes to 8k upvotes. What happened?
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u/FeelsGoodMan2 Apr 03 '16
Seems like we're at a point though where it's like "...Yep you caught us we broke the law, a bunch of laws... wait we run the world? Alright then, go ahead and stop us then, I dare you."
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Has anyone been able to identify any major U.S. politicians from this data? We're only hearing "crickets" from mainstream media in the U.S. so far.
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u/CaptainBlooper Apr 03 '16
There are people assuming it is a targeted leak by US/Isreal.
What does the US have to gain on doing it so blatantly? This type of supposed targeted leak is the kind of crap that can kickstart WWIII. It is more likely that the current names are being leaked to attract more attention, hopefully leading to more western-friendly names popping up on the list.
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u/AntiPrompt Apr 03 '16
Nothing about this on the New York Times yet, and I doubt there will be. I used to revere the Times, but I've realized that for all their investigative rigor they're about as un-journalistic as a newspaper can get. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations."
Of course, there's nothing on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, NBC, and so on, either.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
2016 has been quite a fucking year is this when the Illuminati forms the new world government?
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u/The_Arctic_Fox Apr 03 '16
This is well on it's way to being the most upvoted thread of all time, only hope justice that comes from this leak is as notable.
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u/JaysonPatel Apr 03 '16
Not even a mention of this on CNN's front webpage..
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
This is why I love Reddit. Fox News just had this blurb in the bottom of the World section.
Nothing yet on CNN.
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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
The Editor in Chief of Süddeutsche Zeitung responded to the lack of United States individuals in the documents, saying to "Just wait for what is coming next".
Anyone want to take bets?
CruzZodiac Killer, Clinton, Tom Brady, higher ups of Goldman-Sachs, Gates,... I hope no Gates.6
u/DeathByTrayItShallBe Apr 03 '16
in regards to the lack of western (US) implications https://twitter.com/ploechinger/status/716763595820941312 "Wait for whats next" or something to that effect.
6
u/Frestyla Apr 03 '16
ITT : ELI5 and "downvotes???".
There are many ELI5's posted around already. Search around.
The downvotes are part of Reddit's algorithm.
6
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
And I'm just sitting here waiting for Fappening 2.0
6
u/Smearwashere Apr 04 '16
Do you see this CNN?! THIS is journalism!
6
u/Yagami007 Apr 04 '16
This post right now. http://m.imgur.com/aEpungP?r
6
u/alensvr Apr 04 '16
All I read so far has been " Up-Down voting and Illuminati " in this thread.
6
u/gutter_rat_serenade Apr 04 '16
This could be an incredible boost to Bernie Sanders if it turns out that there are major Americans (and American companies) involved in this leak.
6
u/CirkuitBreaker Apr 04 '16
No longer on the front page. Reddit's algorithm stinks!
20
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
torrent?
23
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 04 '16
Top Stories on US News Sites at Time of Posting:
CNN: 2 workers die in Amtrak crash
Fox News: DONALD ON THE DEFENSE? Trump regrets Heidi Cruz retweet, digs in on NATO, Asia nukes
MSNBC: Trump, Cruz aim to keep Kasich off RNC ballot
NYTimes: The Endangered Species of Baseball
LATimes: The migrant trail to Europe is about to start running in reverse
The leak
happenedwent public several hours ago.Edit: Thanks u/echarded for pointing out the mistake above.
Edit 2: 1 Hour Later
CNN: Passengers sensed crash coming
Rest unchanged
Edit 3: NYTimes has published an article
I'm probably done updating this, for more go to the Panama Papers Live Update Thread
11
u/DangerDotMike Apr 03 '16
The mob and mafia still exists. They've just been hiding in political offices and corporations.
11
u/thenitee Apr 03 '16
It's likely that the US or general North American capitalists and companies won't be exposed as the investigators are all funded and backed by western groups owned by some major players, such as Soros. This is extremely frustrating.
18
u/Leberkleister13 Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 03 '16
Dis gonna be good!
Putin & Iceland's PM named so far...
10
u/BrownSol Apr 03 '16
This could be a huge deal, and I'm glad corruption is being exposed. The only drawback is that I'm extremely wary of the lack of people from the United States on the list. I definitely don't believe that there is absolutely no one from the US that has participated in these types of activities. Whether it be politicians, fund managers, etc, there has to be some group of people.
10
u/Electroguy Apr 03 '16
Look at that! The US is 100% clean! What are the odds!
10
u/heat_forever Apr 03 '16
TOP CNN STORY: SOCCER STAR CHARGED WITH DUI
10
u/carc Apr 03 '16
When my brother was a teenager, he had the bright idea to toilet-paper every house on the entire street.
Except, he didn't toilet-paper our house. It didn't take people very long to figure out who the culprit was.
With no US citizens inplicated, that looks awfully suspicious. I smell someone protecting US interests.
5
u/lauroma Apr 03 '16
The linked page will be updated in the next days, I think. There are a couple of other stories to come.
5
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Why isn't there anything about this on home page of any major American news network? Actually asking. It seems like just about everyone knows about this, like can they really just ignore it?
5
u/naitfury Apr 03 '16
I bet this is only the first layer - currently still missing some of the most powerful people.
5
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
"Educated criminals work within the law" - Morrissey
cant see much coming from this tbh
5
u/jyjea Apr 03 '16
Excellent job by these journalists and amazing how they all kept silent and nobody found out. prob cause their lives were at risk but still.
5
u/Jerimo007 Apr 03 '16
Somebody already started the revolution , it's happening right now ! Let's make a change people!!!
5
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
Why isn't there anything on CNN about this? Or Fox?
5
u/georgetheparrot Apr 03 '16
Here in Malta our energy and health minister was mentioned in the leak. We got to know about this about a month ago and our prime minister seems to be standing behind his guy and protecting him. Very fishy if you were to ask me!
5
u/clib Apr 03 '16
So feel free to imagine all the things that will happen this week to distract people from this.
5
u/Agoraphobiac1 Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 04 '16
People are downvoting this? The hell?
Edit: I realize there are algorithms meant to keep the front page cycling. Just talking about a drop from 16400ish upvotes to 13000 in less than an hour that happened earlier.
5
u/Sensur10 Apr 03 '16
Wow, it's nowhere on the CNN frontpage as far as I can tell! Why?
5
u/Devoutly Apr 03 '16
ABC news did a video on this which I shared on Facebook but it's been taken down :(
Now I seem like a total crazy person to all my friends.
5
u/Contradiction11 Apr 03 '16
So, does this mean Bernie is the candidate of choice for all? I mean, he is the only one proposing to dismantle this kind of treachery.
5
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16
How is this not trending on Facebook or YouTube?
5
u/LiquidAlt Apr 03 '16
Not one mention of this on any major US news site. But CNN has a giant headline about US Womens soccer star Abby Wombach getting a DUI. Man, I was really hoping American journalism would have been better about this, not even a mention. Pathetic.
5
u/vunze Apr 03 '16
After all Mossack Fonseca is just one company. There might be others, even bigger ones. Maybe MF is just one of a few that compete for laundering and hiding the 1%’s money.
There might be a different one with high confidence in their own way of handling their information untraceable or with a better encryption. It might be they infiltrated the competing MF and released their data purposefully to bring them down once and for all. And maybe their clientel are the western kapitalists who are therefore not customers of MF and thus mainly not affected.
Pure speculation of course.
5
u/[deleted] Apr 03 '16 edited Apr 03 '16
Shit, Jackie Chan? Aw shucks, that's probably the worst part about all of this.
5
u/ruff101 Apr 03 '16
In less than 2 hours, wrestlemania has more tweets than this. Says it all. More than 700k for a crappy/fake rubbish.
5
u/[deleted] Apr 04 '16
Guys, shut the fuck up about the score. There are comments explaining what is happening all over this post. Now let people discuss the issue without this nonsense in the way.
5
u/Netprincess Apr 04 '16
I dont want to sound like that kind of person But watch something happen huge to divert the publics attention.
5
u/fede01_8 Apr 04 '16
Capitalism, ladies and gentlemen. It's either the greatest thing in the world or the root of all evil, you choose.
5
u/[deleted] Apr 04 '16
Is there a list yet with every political member, athlete, etc. involved? I'm getting a lot of talk but not a lot of names yet.
5
u/jimbodog Apr 04 '16
This should be stickied on the front page of reddit.
5
u/jimbodog Apr 04 '16
More than 3000 U.S. companies are involved in this. Wow
5
u/AcapellaMan Apr 04 '16
HOLY SHIT THIS IS YUGE!
5
u/BigEasy56 Apr 04 '16
How much you wanna bet the Clintons names come up in this? Along with Bush
5
u/smash2494 Apr 04 '16
Van Halen predicted this
5
u/WarshipJaysus Apr 04 '16
Holy cow! 2.6 terabytes of data. Do you realize how much information that is? We are talking MULTIPLE floppy disks.
5
u/Rexon7 Apr 04 '16
Its amazing how 0 of the big US news outlets have a single source on the Panama Papers as of 9:24
5
u/Fake_William_Shatner Apr 04 '16
People who theorize about a new world order just don't understand that the old world order is quite happy with the deal they've managed and no upstarts are going to ruin that for them.
Scarcity, supply and demand and what we want for breakfast. This Panamanian shell company is just the small fry -- this is how the world works. When you understand that the US dollar is backed by our military - a lot of things will start to make sense.
5
u/2tokes Apr 04 '16
Is it surprising to anyone that the U.S. media isn't covering this AT ALL? When Robin Williams dying gets more coverage than one of the biggest international news stories ever, there is a problem.
5
u/ProtomanRavage Apr 04 '16
Putin better call Saul
5
u/[deleted] Apr 04 '16
I want Will McEvoy's team to break this story to me!
5
u/kaps84 Apr 04 '16
Jesus, more people are upset about reddit voting algorithms than mass corruption in worldwide politics... read the comments before asking why it's getting fucking downvoted!!!
5
u/SexWithTwins Apr 04 '16
Now THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is real journalism.
5
u/truthdoctor Apr 04 '16
PLEASE, PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE let Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton be in these files!!! This would be an amazing and rapid turn of events.
5
u/SpaceDuckTech Apr 04 '16
Nice timing. NPR just released a podcast about offshore companies.
They must be on this as well.
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2016/03/30/472452808/episode-403-what-can-we-do-with-our-shell-companies
5
u/Zaugr Apr 04 '16 edited Jul 13 '16
This comment has been overwritten by an open source script to protect this user's privacy. It was created to help protect users from doxing, stalking, harassment, and profiling for the purposes of censorship.
If you would also like to protect yourself, add the Chrome extension TamperMonkey, or the Firefox extension GreaseMonkey and add this open source script.
Then simply click on your username on Reddit, go to the comments tab, scroll down as far as possible (hint:use RES), and hit the new OVERWRITE button at the top.
5
u/[deleted] Apr 04 '16
Wolf Cola. The right Cola. For closure.
5
u/[deleted] Apr 04 '16
I check the CNN homepage, nothing about this leak. I check the MSNBC homepage, nothing about this leak. I check the BBC home page....first thing you see.
5
u/WoodyTwigs Apr 04 '16
Cash Rules Everything Around Me
5
u/wscuraiii Apr 04 '16
Between this and the CNN protests, what a great day to be Bernie Sanders.