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Judge acquits 28 people accused in Panama Papers case, including law firm co-founder (apnews.com)

submitted 4 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

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A judge has acquitted 28 people accused of money laundering in an international case known as the Panama Papers, including the co-founder of a law firm that authorities say was at the center of a conspiracy to hide money linked to illegal activities.

Jürgen Mossack founded Mossack & Fonseca with then associate Ramón Fonseca, who died in May. Mossack was acquitted on Friday along with others after a Panamanian judge found that the evidence against Mossack didn’t comply with the chain of custody after authorities raided the office of the now defunct firm.

Prosecutors had accused Mossack, Fonseca and others of creating offshore companies and using complex transactions to hide money from illegal activities related to the so-called car wash corruption scandal involving Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to a charge related to using shell companies to hide millions of dollars in bribes paid worldwide to win public contracts.

The judge noted that other evidence in the Panama Papers case “was not sufficient and conclusive to determine the criminal responsibility of the accused.”

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[-] Passerby6497@lemmy.world 97 points 4 months ago

Mossack was acquitted on Friday along with others after a Panamanian judge found that the evidence against Mossack didn’t comply with the chain of custody

Uh oh, looks like the door to the evidence locker got left open and random people who are totally not related to MF and the people who they hid money for got in and rustled everything up. Looks like we gotta aquit them. Aw shucky dee, we're really sorry all. Looks like those pesky richers are going to go free with no consequences, no one could see this coming.

[-] Nobody@lemmy.world 26 points 4 months ago

Now they can get back to murdering journalists with impunity.

[-] CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 82 points 4 months ago

Daphne Galizia died for this

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_Caruana_Galizia

[-] AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net 10 points 4 months ago

I didn't know that. Thanks for sharing.

[-] Got_Bent@lemmy.world 55 points 4 months ago

I don't know why we're even remotely concerned with some businessmen, well respected in their communities, conducting perfectly reasonable financial transactions when just last week, I saw a BROWN person in an orange grove, taking all the jobs from "the blacks" and forcing them into poverty!

Heavy /s though with use of actual sound bites from our burgeoning overlords.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 20 points 4 months ago

Don't forget about how drag queens are going to destroy the economy by turning our children trans.

[-] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 53 points 4 months ago

The Laundromat (2019) attempts to describe the human impact of this kind of large-scale money laundering. It's worth watching.

[-] rimjob_rainer@discuss.tchncs.de 48 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Let me guess, just recently somehow the judge got rich and now the evidence is not sufficient so they can't do anything.

[-] SolacefromSilence@fedia.io 40 points 4 months ago

The bribe wasn't paid in advance, so it's a totally cool and legal gratuity. -U.S. Supreme Court

[-] TheFriar@lemm.ee 17 points 4 months ago

The most insane ruling—until overturning chevron.

Yippee. Things are going so well.

[-] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago

It's rather disturbing that Germany and Japan may be the last major powers with an actual functioning democracy. The irony.

[-] TheFriar@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

Well with the anti immigrant sentiment surging in Germany, I dunno how much longer that will be the case.

[-] Pips@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 4 months ago

I don't know why the article isn't explicit but this was a Panamanian judge, not an American one. Most of the Panama Papers prosecutions of the actual law firm were in Panama.

[-] MapleEngineer@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

*She

EDIT: To be clear, the commenter originally wrote, "he" which clearly shows that they didn't read the article. I simply pointed out that the judge was, in fact, a woman which is made clear in the article, which I read. OC covered up the fact that they commented without reading the article by editing their comment to "they".

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 43 points 4 months ago

At a few billions net worth, the law ceases to be a problem, obviously.

[-] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 37 points 4 months ago

And that judge will retire to his villa where his children and grandchildren will constantly visit. There will be no talk of politics, or the issues of the world. The man has his bubble and will never see the consequences of his actions.

[-] Treczoks@lemmy.world 22 points 4 months ago

Best justice money can buy. Almost as good as in the US.

[-] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

Justice aligning itself with money is a resurgent trend worldwide.

Hilarious times ahead.

[-] oleorun@real.lemmy.fan 16 points 4 months ago

The simulation keeps on churning....

[-] DogPeePoo@lemm.ee 10 points 4 months ago

Judge Greasepalm

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 5 points 4 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The judge noted that other evidence in the Panama Papers case “was not sufficient and conclusive to determine the criminal responsibility of the accused.”

“We feel satisfied in the midst of mixed emotions, because many lives were affected along the way,” Guillermina Mc Donald, who was the defense attorney for Mossack and Fonseca, told The Associated Press.

Judge Balaoisa Marquínez had decided to combine the Panama Papers case with another known as “Operation Car Wash,” a major anti-corruption investigation that began in Brazil.

On Friday, she ruled that in the car wash case, “it was not possible to determine the entry of money from illicit sources, coming from Brazil, into the Panamanian financial system with the purpose of hiding, concealing, disguising or helping to evade the legal consequences of the preceding crime.”

The investigation in Brazil began in 2014, with the Mossack & Fonseca firm later coming under scrutiny after 11 million financial documents tied to the company were leaked.

The repercussions of the leak were widespread: it led to the resignation of a prime minister in Iceland and brought scrutiny to now former leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin, among others.

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this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2024

391 points (98.8% liked)

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