Thursday, April 07, 2016

My New Favorite Story: The Panama Papers

The incredible story of the shady law firm in Panama that helped gazillionaires around the world hide their money has officially become my new favorite story. The Washington Post this morning tells the story of how this massive data dump fell into the hands of two German reporters, who in turn, have shared it with hundreds of other reporters around the world.

Doubt the significance of this data dump? Here's a small sample of what has already been made public...

The first wave of stories — the disclosures could go on for years — has already led Iceland’s prime minister to tender his resignation over revelations of his offshore holdings. Among the thousands of people named in the documents are Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, King Salman of Saudi Arabia, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s family members, close associates of Russian President Vladi­mir Putin, British Prime Minister David Cameron’s late father, Ian, and soccer superstar Lionel Messi. The news reports prompted President Obama, among others, to call for international tax reform.

Sorry Sumner Redstone and Rupert Murdoch. We can still be friends, but I'm moving on to someone new.