Ramón Fonseca, co-founder of law firm involved in ‘Panama Papers’ tax havens leak, dead at age 71
Ramón Fonseca, co-founder of a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, that helped the famous and infamous shelter their riches, and who then presided over the firm’s collapse after the dealings were made public in the massive 2016 “Panama Papers” leaks, died May 8 in a hospital in Panama City. He was 71.
Fonseca’s attorney, Guillermina McDonald, confirmed the death but gave no specific cause. The Spanish news agency EFE quoted Fonseca’s daughter, Raquel Fonseca, saying he died of pneumonia.
Fonseca had been hospitalized since early April, McDonald added, and did not attend a trial last month on alleged money laundering. Prosecutors in Panama claim that Fonseca, his former legal partner Jürgen Mossack and nearly 30 others created shell companies that were used by clients to hide money from illicit activities. Fonseca had denied the charges.
The firm Mossack Fonseca built its reputation over four decades as expert guides into the worlds of offshore accounts, tax havens, front companies and other avenues to potentially give clients options to shield their assets and identities.
Fonseca and his colleagues insisted they always operated within the law and were not responsible for what clients did with the companies or accounts the firm helped create.
“We are like a car factory who sells its car to a dealer (a lawyer for example), and he sells it to a lady that hits someone,” Fonseca wrote in an exchange of messages with the New York Times in 2016. “The factory is not responsible for what is done with the car.”
Fonseca wrote popular novels and twice won Panama’s top literary prize. He hosted lavish soirees at his villa in Panama City. He was a top official in a political party and confidant to Panamanian presidents, describing public service as a way to give back.
“I believe in sharing the pizza,” he wrote. “At least to give others one slice.”
Yet Mossack Fonseca was little known outside the offshore banking networks and the constellation of so-called tax haven countries around the world.
That changed in April 2016 with the “Panama Papers” leaks, obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a global investigative journalism organization that pioneered collaborative cross-border reporting.
The trove of 11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca revealed money trails and legal arrangements made for thousands of clients. “The cat’s out of the bag,” Fonseca told Bloomberg News, “so now we have to deal with the aftermath.”
The disclosures offered a road map into how billions of dollars — and apparent tax benefits — flow across borders, and how firms such as Mossack Fonseca make it happen.
The client list included political leaders such as Argentine President Mauricio Macri, as well as stars such as Argentine football great Lionel Messi and actor Jackie Chan.
In 2019, Fonseca was played by Antonio Banderas in a film based on the Panama Papers, “The Laundromat,” which also starred Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman (as Mossack). Fonseca and Mossack tried to block the film’s release on Netflix.