Recently, the news has been awash with stories about two things: Donald Trump losing the Wisconsin primary, ensuring a contested Republican convention, and the "Panama Papers." The Panama Papers are 11.5 million files that were leaked from the database of the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The unprecedented leak exposed 143 politicians who were using offshore accounts in various tax havens to stash their cash (you know, secretly). Included in this list are close associates of Russia's Vlamir Putin (shocker), former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Argentina's Mauricio Macri, and the Prime Minister of Iceland (who was forced to resign after all this came to light). Commentators were quick to note that almost no Americans were among the people named. Surely it is because we are a more law abiding society. If only...NBC quotes Ana Owens:
"This firm is one of thousands in the world and there are hundreds or thousands just like it in the U.S. If a company in the U.S. can do the exact thing for you as this company in Panama, then you might as well do it right here in the U.S. And its perfectly legal..."
So who leaked the story? The firm says they were victims of a hacker, but we don't actually know exactly which hackers. So what does this all this hoopla mean? Only that offshore tax havens may no longer have their biggest selling point: secrecy....and now you know the gist.
