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by starkred 2101 days ago
They may be going after the real perpetrators.

If they are, they probably don't want the perpetrators to know how much information they have.

If so, their cases may have just been blown apart by these leaks, and the perpetrators are even less likely to get persecuted.

2 comments

I could dig it up, but there was a leak about ten years ago where literally thousands of high wealth individuals were caught out hiding money from the IRS. And a a large US money manager was found to be helping thing them.

What happened?

Some people had to pay fines. The company paid a small fine with no charges filed. Leaker went to prison.

The system is completely corrupt.

They may, If they are, if so... but extremely doubtful given the history of prosecuting white collar crime in this and other countries.

Didn't we have many financial crime leaks this past decade with essentially no repercussions?

It seems to be widely believed that nothing came from the Panama Papers, but I think that's only because people hoped to see some CEOs perp-walked to a waiting cop car. There certainly have been repercussions.

>Twenty-three countries have already recovered at least US$1.2 billion in taxes, heads of government implicated in corruption or tax avoidance have resigned or faced prosecution and there have been investigations in at least 82 countries. Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the story, has shut down and the Panama Papers have prompted high-level political debates and expedited policy reforms around the world

https://www.transparency.org/en/news/three-years-after-the-p...

How big of a proportion do you think that 1.2 billion is when compared to total amount of taxes avoided? I'd be willing to bet less than 1%. The company that was center of the documents no longer exists... and ctrl+f this wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactions_to_the_Panama_Papers it seems only one person from Venezuela was arrested (and his mom, but she was allowed to go home due to health reasons).

So it seems what I said is still correct... almost no repercussions for white collar crime across the globe. I'd bet it still occurs rampantly.