Epi 40: The Panama Papers

The Panama Papers are a collection of leaked company documents that gave a glimpse into how the world’s richest and most powerful people avoid paying taxes by basically cheating the system and being shady AF.

The Background:

• In 2016, journalists from a German newspaper obtained 11.5 million documents from the law firm, Mossack Fonseca, that exposed how some of the world’s most prominent politicians, business leaders and celebrities may have used offshore bank accounts and shell companies to conceal their wealth or avoid taxes.
• For those who are not familiar with the term- offshore banking refers to the deposit of funds by a company or individual in a bank that is located outside their national residence.  
• Due to way less tax regulations, and like, zero transparency, you are able to get away with some shady sh*t.
• And then this little German cutie started leaking documents to a local German newspaper and it was j-u-i-c-y.
• We still don’t know who this guy is, he goes by Jon Doe to remain anonymous; however, since his first interaction with Bastian Obermayer (that Investigative Reporter), over 11.5 million documents from that sketchy law firm were leaked… Leading to history’s largest data leak, ever. 

WTF Moments:

• Offshore banking is 100% legal and has been going on for decades, but some see it as a trick or perk for the wealthy.
• In 2018, 60 of the largest companies in the USA paid no taxes on pre-tax income of 79 billion dollars.
• Conspiracies range from this being “an attack on enemies of western capitalism” to “being a distraction for the 2016 US Presidential Election Circus Show” to all of this being a “strategic leak” – we discuss these in more depth in this ep.
• Netflix is being sued over their movie depicting the story of the Panama Papers – btw, if it is still available, we highly recommend… plus Meryl Streep is in it.
• Oh ya, and the journalist that helped leak the story was f*cking murdered.

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