The prevailing media narrative thus far has focused on the scandal of what is legal and allowed in this system. What is allowed is indeed scandalous and must be changed. But we must not lose sight of another important fact: the law firm, its founders, and employees actually did knowingly violate myriad laws worldwide, repeatedly. Publicly they plead ignorance, but the documents show detailed knowledge and deliberate wrongdoing. At the very least we already know that Mossack personally perjured himself before a federal court in Nevada, and we also know that his information technology staff attempted to cover up the underlying lies. They should all be prosecuted accordingly with no special treatment.
I'm not sure what your point was quoting that. This quote says that the lawyers knew what they were doing was wrong, but it says nothing about their clients being involved.
Very much so. In my experience, most wealthy people don't really know what is going on with their money other than it is in the hands of their manager who gives them occasional reports of how much they have. Sometimes they may direct a specific investment or purchase, but don't usually involve themselves in the details of tax and estate planning. That's what the lawyers are for after all -- so you don't have to think about it, just like all the other people that work for them.
You don't think they check all the grocery shopping lists from the cook or tell the cleaners which products to use? No, they trust the professionals to be experts at what they do.
It's one thing if you happen to end up with investment in some less ethical business because someone is managing investments for you. But in this case you have to pay tens of thousands of dollars and sign contracts for nominee directors and account holders. I'm sure some people trusted the firms too much and didn't really realize the implications. But these firms are very careful when it come to liability so that someone didn't know they were setting up shell companies seems unlikely.
It's more like if you chef or cleaner comes to you and ask you to sign an import declaration for endangered species or waste dumping liability waver. You can say "I thought this was normal" but you can't say "I didn't know this was going on" (well, you can but it won't have much standing as such).
The question is whether lawyers and clients should be accused the same. Whether we assume guilt or innocence while accusing them is a completely different topic.
The prevailing media narrative thus far has focused on the scandal of what is legal and allowed in this system. What is allowed is indeed scandalous and must be changed. But we must not lose sight of another important fact: the law firm, its founders, and employees actually did knowingly violate myriad laws worldwide, repeatedly. Publicly they plead ignorance, but the documents show detailed knowledge and deliberate wrongdoing. At the very least we already know that Mossack personally perjured himself before a federal court in Nevada, and we also know that his information technology staff attempted to cover up the underlying lies. They should all be prosecuted accordingly with no special treatment.
https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160506-john-doe-statement.ht...