Judge acquits 28 suspects in Panama Papers case

PANAMA CITY — 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 tied to illegal activities.

Jürgen Mossack founded Mossack & Fonseca with then partner Ramon Fonseca, who died in May. Mossack was acquitted along with others on Friday after a Panamanian judge ruled that the evidence against Mossack did not meet the chain of custody after authorities searched the now-defunct company’s office.

Prosecutors accused Mossack, Fonseca and others of setting up 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. Odebrecht pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to charges related to using shell companies to hide millions of dollars in bribes paid around the world to win government contracts.

The judge noted that other evidence in the Panama Papers case “was not sufficient and decisive to establish the defendant’s criminal liability.”

In addition, the judge lifted personal and material precautions against all suspects, according to a court statement.

“We feel satisfied amid mixed emotions because many lives have been affected along the way,” Guillermina McDonald, an attorney for Mossack and Fonseca, told The Associated Press. Her firm also represented 80% of the accused firm’s employees.

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

On Friday, she ruled that in the car wash case “it was not possible to establish that money from illegal sources, originating in Brazil, entered the Panamanian financial system for the purpose of concealing, disguising, disguising or helping to evade the legal consequences of the preceding crime.”

In June 2022, Mossack, Fonseca and 37 other people were acquitted in a separate money laundering case.

The investigation in Brazil began in 2014. Later, the firm Mossack & Fonseca also came under scrutiny after 11 million financial documents related to the company were leaked.

The fallout from the leak was widespread, leading to the resignation of a prime minister in Iceland and bringing the current former leaders of Argentina and Ukraine, Chinese politicians and Russian President Vladimir Putin under scrutiny, among others.