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Leaktivism is defined as the action of distributing confidential documents to the public in an attempt to directly impact the socio-economic and political spheres. The term Leaktivism was popularized by Micah White, the co-founder of the Occupy movement, in relation to the Panama Papers.
The Panama Papers are a collection of 11.5m leaked files from one of the world's largest law firms, Mossack Fonseca. [1] A German newspaper called Süddeutsche Zeitung was able to obtain the database from an anonymous source acting under the pseudonym John Doe, who stated he was releasing the papers to draw attention to wealth inequality. [2] The different files demonstrated the manner in which the different wealthy individuals are able to take advantage of secrete offshore tax regimes. [1]
Several heads of state and heads of government were included among the 143 politicians impacted within the leak. [1] (See List of people named in the Panama Papers.)
The information leaked in regards to the Panama Papers is considered one of the largest leaks in history. This leak is considered to be larger than both the US diplomatic cables leak in 2010 and the 2010s global surveillance disclosures. [1] In total there 11.5m documents along with 2.6 terabytes of information taken from the Mossack Fonseca’s internal database. [1]
Micah White is the co-founder of Occupy and a democratic activist. His article in the Guardian states that the Panama Papers illustrate the rising of leaktivism. He argues that the Panama Papers show that leaking information can be an impactful form of protest. [3] White argues that the leaks have the ability to destabilize numerous governments throughout the globe, impacting the credibility of powerful world leaders. [3]
White states that the Panama Papers have resulted in positive social change. He uses the example of the former Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who was forced to resign from his position. However, he does argue that while the resignation of some corrupt political leaders is progress, it does not solve the larger problem; namely, that our world is being run by the top 1%. [3] He says that individuals must go beyond traditional activism and try different methods of protest, developing the manner in which our society protests in relation to the technology that is developing.
White concludes his article by stating that the main problem that the Panama Papers illustrates is a questions concerning the governance of our world. The leak demonstrates who is actually in power. He further argues that the distribution of the papers will only be successful if it bring upon change." [3]
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with personnel in Australia, France, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium and Ireland.
Mossack Fonseca & Co. was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider. At one time it was the world's fourth-largest provider of offshore financial services. From its establishment in 1977 until the publication of the Panama Papers in April 2016, the company remained mostly obscured from public attention, even though it was a major firm in the global offshore industry and acted for approximately 300,000 companies. Prior to its dissolution, the company employed roughly 600 staff members spread across 42 countries.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that were published beginning on April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, former Panamanian offshore law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and compiled with similar leaks into a searchable database.
Ramón Fonseca Mora is a Panamanian novelist, lawyer and co-founder of Mossack Fonseca, a former law firm based in Panama with more than 40 offices worldwide. He was minister-counselor of Juan Carlos Varela, and president of the Panameñista Party until he was dismissed in March 2016, due to the Brazilian Operation Car Wash. In 2016, Mossack Fonseca was raided by police on suspicion of money-laundering, bribery and corruption. Fonseca and his partner Jürgen Mossack were arrested and jailed on 10 February 2017. They were initially refused bail because the court saw a flight risk, but were released on 21 April 2017 after a judge ruled they had cooperated with the investigation and ordered them each to pay $500,000 in bail. Numerous lawsuits including serious allegations of collusion with despotic regimes, mafia, and global criminals are ongoing.
Jürgen Rolf Dieter Mossack is a German-born Panamanian lawyer and the co-founder of Mossack Fonseca, a former law firm headquartered in Panama City which had more than 40 offices worldwide. The firm gained global notoriety in 2016 when it found itself at the centre of the Panama Papers affair, which uncovered the activities of the offshore finance industry. According to the leaked papers, Mossack Fonseca set up more than 214,000 shell companies around the world, some of which were found to have been used for illegal purposes, including fraud and tax evasion. In 2016, Mossack Fonseca was raided by police on suspicion of money-laundering, bribery and corruption. Mossack and his partner Ramón Fonseca Mora were arrested and jailed on 10 February 2017. They were initially refused bail because the court saw a flight risk, but were released on 21 April 2017 after a judge ruled they had cooperated with the investigation and ordered them each to pay $500,000 in bail. Numerous lawsuits including serious allegations of collusion with despotic regimes, mafia, and global criminals are ongoing.
Nigel Cowie is a British banker, who lived in North Korea for two decades from 1995.
John Doe is the pseudonym used by the whistleblower in the 2016 Panama Papers leak, who turned over 11.5 million documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. On May 5, 2016, Doe published a statement titled The Revolution Will Be Digitized; Doe explained they made the files public to underline growing income inequality and financial corruption globally. The whistleblower has offered to help prosecutors build their cases, on the condition of legal protection.
Keith Schembri is Maltese businessman and political strategist who served as chief of staff to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat from 11 March 2013 to 26 November 2019. Schembri resigned in relation to the murder investigation of Daphne Caruana Galizia and in course of the political crises in Malta. The crisis also led to unprecedented protests in Malta, which called for Schembri's resignation.
Bastian Obermayer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning German investigative journalist with the Munich-based newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and the reporter who received the Panama Papers from an anonymous source as well as later on the Paradise Papers, together with his colleague Frederik Obermaier. Obermayer is also author of several books, among them the best selling account of the Panama Papers: The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money, co-authored by his colleague Frederik Obermaier.
This article lists some of the reactions and responses from countries and other official bodies regarding the leak of legal documents related to offshore tax havens from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, called the Panama Papers.
Frederik Obermaier is a German investigative journalist for the Munich-based newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and author. Together with his colleague Bastian Obermayer in 2016 he initiated and coordinated the Panama Papers-revelations.
Kim Chol-sam is a North Korean banker, the treasurer of Daedong Credit Bank (DCB).
The Laundromat is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh with a screenplay by Scott Z. Burns. It is based on the book Secrecy World about the Panama Papers scandal by author Jake Bernstein. The film stars Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Robert Patrick, Jeffrey Wright, David Schwimmer, Matthias Schoenaerts, James Cromwell, and Sharon Stone.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney-client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
The Daphne Project is a collaborative, cross-border investigative journalism project by major news organizations from around the world, coordinated by Paris-based investigative non-profit newsroom, Forbidden Stories, to continue the work of Maltese investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Their work has been facilitated through the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), a member of Global Investigative Journalism Network. They published their first in a series of reports in April 2018.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The files were uncovered and exposed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and other news organizations. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
Carlos Hank Rhon is a Mexican billionaire. He made his fortune from selling his financial firm Grupo Financiero Interacciones to Banorte. He also owns the diversified Grupo Hermes.
