The Panama Papers: What You Need to Know

It is all anyone has been talking about over the past week, you can’t walk past the office water-cooler without someone bringing it up; that being, the infamous Panama Papers. The basic underlying news here is that it is a large leak that came into the International Consortium of Investigative Journalist’s hands, and has implicated a large number of extremely high-profile names in an offshore banking scandal. The Panama Papers get their name from where they were leaked: Panama, by a law firm named Mossack Fonseca.

The leak came from an anonymous source who approached Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper, and wanted nothing in return for the leak, only citing a want to: “…make these crimes public.”

In the leak, 11.5 million documents, both financial and legal in nature, taking the form of photos, emails and other documents. Considered one of the largest leaks on record, the leaks in their entirety take up a staggering 2.6 terabytes in storage. The earliest dated file in the leak is from 1977, when Mossack Fonseca started operations.

The leaked info contains the names of 12 current and former World leaders, such as the leaders from Pakistan, Iceland (whose Prime Minister resigned in response), the Ukraine and many more. It also referenced 128 other public officials, as well as the FIFA association. The leaks also reveal that Vladimir Putin has $2 billion in offshore assets, a fact that Putin has declared as an attack meant to discredit him.

Not all contained in the leaks have taken them as baseless attacks, however, as Mexico, Britain, France, and Australia are launching investigations into the information contained in the leaks.

When Moccack Fonseca was asked about the attacks they said that while they were the victims of a breach in security, nothing they have done over their 40 years of operation is illegal. They intend to continue their business as they have in the past.

This is obviously still a developing story, so check back for more news as it develops. This story will only get bigger in the coming days and weeks.