On April 4, 2016 we posted Huge Leak From the Panamanian Law Firm Mossack Fonseca! where we discussed that the offshore planning world was set on fire with the news that 11 million documents were leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. They allegedly show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax. The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing.
In our blog post. we speculated that while the neither the BBC article, nor a more detailed series of articles from the International Consortium of International Journalists, reference any U.S. client; U.S. persons will probably show up, given that Mossack Fonseca apparently maintained a branch in Las Vegas, Nevada, under the name of M.F. Company Services and Mossack Fonseca Company Services is currently attempting to fight a subpoena brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada seeking information on at least 123 companies that it created.
IRS officials said they could not discuss who participated and what, specifically, was discussed. But in its statement to NBC news, the IRS described the meeting as "productive and timely" and said "governments around the world are working together cooperatively" to respond to the information released in the Panama Papers, with JITSIC playing a coordinating role.
U.S. federal agents and prosecutors told NBC News earlier that they had begun to mobilize in an effort to obtain and use the Panama Papers to bolster Existing Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions and to Launch New Ones.
According to media reports, the documents contain information on potentially thousands of U.S. citizens and firms that have at least an indirect connection to offshore accounts affiliated with Mossack Fonseca.
Read more at: Tax Times blog
