Biggest Data Leak In History-World News

by, Chauntel Semineriom, Editor

Sunday, April 3, 2016, a coalition of more than 100 media organizations worldwide, including but not limited to, BBC News, NPR, London Free Press, News Australia, Reuters, USA Today, The Guardian, and more collaborated in what is being call the biggest data leak in history.

The massive leak — dubbed the “Panama Papers” — includes more than 11.5 million documents, implicates 72 current and former heads of state, exposes assets of political officials, billionaires, celebrities, and even sports stars.

According to USA Today, the papers list at least 33 people and companies blacklisted by the U.S. government because of links to crime, such as Mexican drug lords, terrorist groups and rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran. Also revealing details of secret offshore companies linked to families and associates of Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syria’s president Bashar Assad, among others.

The enormous collection of confidential documents is said to be the most extensive journalistic data investigation in history, exposing a “vast web” of offshore shell companies used by members of the global elite to evade taxes, horde money, and skirt economic sanctions.

The collection is larger than the notorious leak by former CIA employee Edward Snowden in 2013, who still resides in hiding outside of the U.S., tweeted on Sunday that the “Biggest leak in the history of data journalism just went live, and it’s about corruption.”

“The leak exposes the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and reveals how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies,” the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., wrote in its overview of the leak on Sunday.

“The files contain new details about major scandals ranging from England’s most infamous gold heist, an unfolding political money laundering affair in Brazil and bribery allegations convulsing FIFA, the body that rules international soccer” Vice News reported.

Allegedly an anonymous source contacted reporters more than a year ago and surrendered 2.6 terabytes of data from the Law Firm of Mossack Fonseca operating in Panama.

The Guardian reports, Mossack Fonseca, is a Panama-based law firm whose services include incorporating companies in offshore jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands. It administers offshore firms for a yearly fee. Other services include wealth management.

Mossack Fonseca is the world’s fourth biggest provider of offshore services. It has acted for more than 300,000 companies. There is a strong UK connection. More than half of the companies are registered in British-administered tax havens, as well as in the UK itself- The Guardian.

German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) wrote, “These shell firms enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady,” also noting that the Panamanian firm’s clients include “criminals and members of various Mafia groups,” in addition to government officials and their relatives and close associates.

“Generally speaking, owning an offshore company is not illegal in itself. In fact, establishing an offshore company can be seen as a logical step for a broad range of business transactions,” SZ explained. “However, a look through the Panama Papers very quickly reveals that concealing the identities of the true company owners was the primary aim in the vast majority of cases.”

The wider implications of the Panama Papers have yet to be felt. What’s been initially published focuses heavily on money traced back to Russian president Vladimir Putin and Iceland PM Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson.

Media outlets with access to the Panama Papers will likely publish more of their findings in the coming days and weeks.