Paradise Papers

The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer of the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The newspaper shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a network of more than 380 journalists. Some of the details were first made public on 5 November 2017, and further stories continue to appear. The documents originate from the law firm Appleby, the corporate services providers Estera and Asiaciti Trust, and business registries in nineteen tax jurisdictions. They contain the names of more than 120,000 people and companies. Among those whose financial affairs are mentioned are, separately, AIG, the then Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II, the president of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, and the US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. The release of the documents resulted in scandal, litigation, and the loss of positions for a number of those named, as well as in legal action against the media outlets and journalists who published the papers.