Mossack Fonseca was the Panamanian law firm at the center of the 2016 leak of offshore financial documents.
The firm specialized in incorporating companies and providing services connected with offshore structures. In 2016, journalists received a huge cache of documents from an anonymous source and investigated them through the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and media partners.
The resulting Panama Papers reporting described offshore companies, trusts, and financial arrangements involving politicians, business figures, celebrities, and other people in many countries. The existence of an offshore company was not itself proof of illegal conduct, but the records prompted investigations into tax evasion, money laundering, and hidden ownership.
Mossack Fonseca announced its closure in 2018. The Panama Papers are often confused with the later Paradise Papers, which came from different service providers and were released in 2017.