A decade ago, the biggest network for journalists ever assembled set out to investigate a system built to stay hidden.

What they uncovered became the Panama Papers, a sweeping investigation that broke open the secretive world of finance and exposed how the rich and powerful use offshore structures to protect wealth and dodge scrutiny.

The global project broke the model for investigative journalism. It built on years of pioneering collaborative projects by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and exploded into the mainstream as the best new way for journalists to take on systems that no single newsroom could unravel alone.

This series explores how it all came together, drawing on the recollections of the journalists whose reporting sparked a global reckoning over financial secrecy and its consequences. You can read part two here, and check back soon for part three, to be published in the coming days.

The beginning

Bastian Obermayer (Germany)
Then: Investigative reporter, Süddeutsche Zeitung | Now: Co-founder and director, Paper Trail Media

Before the world learned how a Panamanian law firm sold secrecy to prime ministers, billionaires and criminals, a German reporter opened a message that would spark a global reckoning:  “Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data?”

“I thought, ‘That’s really interesting,’” the reporter, Bastian Obermayer, recalled a decade later. “And then I went back and changed the sheets because my son had thrown up again.”

German journalist Bastian Obermayer at his desk in April 2016. Image: Christof Stache/AFP via Getty Images

Obermayer’s family — everyone but him — had taken ill, and he’d been balancing his work at Süddeutsche Zeitung with trips to the pharmacy.

The sender was cautious and direct. He insisted on encrypted communication, rejected any face-to-face meetings and warned that disclosure of his identity would endanger his life.

Obermayer agreed to the terms and soon had a cache of internal records from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm known for shell companies.

The material would become part of what the world would come to know as the Panama Papers — 11.5 million confidential documents exposing the offshore financial dealings of politicians, billionaires and world leaders.

There were emails, memos, contracts, spreadsheets and more — enough to map the inner workings of a shadow financial system that regulators and journalists had long suspected and occasionally glimpsed but had never seen documented at such scale or in such granular detail.

They were clearly internal documents, and this John Doe said he had access to more — “more than anything you have ever seen,” he’d promised Obermayer.

The next thing Obermayer did was message his friend and Süddeutsche Zeitung colleague Frederik Obermaier (no relation). Obermaier was on paternity leave but agreed to meet.

“I could already hear the excitement from the first sentence,” Obermaier said. He needed no more convincing.

“I was already in,” he recalled. “Pretty soon we realized this is bigger than everything that we have ever done.”

They realized, too, that it was too big to keep to themselves.

Both had worked on previous ICIJ investigations and they knew what its model made possible: cross-border reporting at a scale no single newsroom could pull off.

They knew, too, that this wasn’t only a German story. It was a global one.

“International stuff is the coolest thing you can do in journalism,” Obermayer said. “When we got the documents, we instantly thought this might be our chance to get the ICIJ to do a project we actually started.”.

It wouldn’t be easy.

First, they had to win over their own newsroom, including colleagues who wanted Süddeutsche Zeitung to keep the scoop for itself. But soon enough, their editor Wolfgang Krach was all in.

Then they had to take the project to ICIJ, which had already built a reputation for global investigations about offshore finance. But the bar for embarking on yet another tax-haven project for ICIJ was high, and its resources were already stretched thin across back-to-back investigations into tax avoidance and private banking.

"wp-caption alignnone"> Gerard Ryle being interviewed in April 2016 at ICIJ’s Washington, D.C. offices in the wake of the Panama Papers.

Image: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Ryle returned to his hotel and kept testing hunches, running various names through the new data set.

“For this to be exciting, it needed to be bigger and better than the investigations we’ve done before,” he said.

Early searches uncovered some potential subjects for investigation, including a Russian mafia boss and even the leader of a small European nation. But at that moment, all he had were fragments — names in emails and transactions on spreadsheets, connections that hinted at something enormous.

John Doe began sending more and more documents. Before he was through, he’d send 11.5 million of them — enough to map the hidden architecture of the offshore world.

But having the data isn’t the same thing as building a project.

For that, Ryle would need a team.

He approached The Guardian and the BBC first. Securing major news organizations early would make it easier to bring in others — and he would need dozens, maybe hundreds.

He faced pushback from Guardian editors who thought ICIJ had already done the definitive stories on offshore tax havens and this would be more of the same. But Ryle knew this was different — in scale and in names. This investigation would reach into the highest levels of power.

By the end of their lunch at London’s Frontline Club, The Guardian and the BBC were onboard.

Now he needed an American outlet — one with reach and investigative chops.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/pop-culture-panama-papers-music/

IMPACT How the Panama Papers rocked pop culture Apr 03, 2023

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/20160403-panama-papers-global-overview/

Mossack Fonseca Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption Apr 03, 2016

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/hundreds-of-millions-more-dollars-recouped-by-governments-after-icij-investigations/

IMPACT Hundreds of millions more dollars recouped by governments after ICIJ investigations Apr 03, 2025

Recommended reading IMPACT How the Panama Papers rocked pop culture Apr 03, 2023 Mossack Fonseca Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption Apr 03, 2016 IMPACT Hundreds of millions more dollars recouped by governments after ICIJ investigations Apr 03, 2025

French prosecutors are set to unveil money laundering charges against Dimitry Klyuev, an alleged mastermind of the Magnitsky Affair, the Russian tax fraud that triggered a global anticorruption movement, according to court documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

Klyuev, who is believed to live in Russia, will be tried in absentia in a Paris criminal court in a  daylong procedure set for March 30, the same day the charges are unsealed.

ICIJ has obtained both the charging document, filed secretly last summer, and the notice of hearing for the trial.

The documents show that prosecutors last summer secretly charged Klyuev, 58, with “aggravated money laundering” in connection to his role in the Magnitisky case, a $230-million fraudulent tax refund scheme dating to 2007.

The affair is named after Sergey Magnitsky, a Russian tax advisor working for the American investment firm Hermitage Capital who exposed the fraud and died almost two years later after being beaten in a Moscow prison.  Hermitage’s principal, Bill Browder, made the case a global cause celebre and pushed for what became the Sergei L. Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, the landmark 2012 legislation passed by U.S. legislators targeting Russian corruption globally. Klyuev was the alleged mastermind of the scheme, to falsely claim a tax refund using Hermitage subsidiaries and funnel the proceeds through offshore entities, according to U.S. sanctions against Klyuev and others announced in 2014.

The French case stems from Klyuev’s spending of the alleged proceeds of the fraudulent tax refund in France. Prosecutors allege that between 2007 and 2012, Klyuev spent more than $2.4 million, (2.1 million euros) on French soil on luxury goods, including clothing, jewelry and artwork. Investigators say the funds originated from accounts he controlled that received proceeds from the scheme.

is message is especially important, and makes clear that Russian corrupt money is no longer welcome in the West”.

If convicted, Klyuev faces a prison term of up to ten years.

French authorities issued a European arrest warrant for him in March 2025.  Klyuev was charged in August last year but the charges were kept under seal by French authorities on the chance the Klyuev would travel to the country.

According to the filings, Klyuev was involved “in the placement, concealment, or conversion of proceeds directly or indirectly derived from organized fraud committed” against the Russian State and Treasury..

Some proceeds of the scheme were allegedly routed through accounts linked to Klyuev’s Universal Savings Bank before moving offshore, including to entities registered in the British Virgin Islands with accounts at the Cyprus-branch of FBME Bank.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/chelsea-fc-fined-millions-over-secret-payments-under-abramovich-ownership/

IMPACT Chelsea FC fined millions over secret payments under Abramovich ownership Mar 17, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/01/im-on-the-right-side-of-history-icij-member-roman-anin-stripped-of-his-russian-citizenship/

PRESS FREEDOM ‘I’m on the right side of history’: ICIJ member Roman Anin stripped of his Russian citizenship Jan 22, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/russia-archive/hidden-details-of-putins-private-life-show-his-real-worldview-new-book-claims/

RUSSIA Hidden details of Putin’s private life show his ‘real worldview,’ new book claims Jul 29, 2025

Recommended reading IMPACT Chelsea FC fined millions over secret payments under Abramovich ownership Mar 17, 2026 PRESS FREEDOM ‘I’m on the right side of history’: ICIJ member Roman Anin stripped of his Russian citizenship Jan 22, 2026 RUSSIA Hidden details of Putin’s private life show his ‘real worldview,’ new book claims Jul 29, 2025

Anti-money laundering authorities in Canada have revoked registrations of nearly three dozen cryptocurrency businesses following an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and The Toronto Star.

Last week, Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre removed 23 crypto firms from its registry of firms permitted to provide money services in the country. FINTRAC had earlier this month struck registrations of a dozen other crypto companies operating in the country.

The revocations mark a notable uptick in Canadian enforcement actions around money transmitters and an intensifying focus on crypto businesses in particular, according to experts and officials interviewed by the Star.

“This represents a significantly increased pace of action, and our government will maintain this momentum,” Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement. Champagne vowed to pursue new measures to address risks posed by virtual currency businesses, “which can be used to facilitate money laundering and fraud.”

The actions came after a Star investigation published in November found that dozens of crypto businesses in the Toronto area were not registered with FINTRAC to deal in virtual currencies. Many of these businesses specialize in converting cryptocurrency to physical cash. The Star story, part of ICIJ’s Coin Laundry investigation into dirty money in cryptocurrency, identified a single thoroughfare with 50 businesses advertising crypto services, most of which appeared to be operating unlawfully.

The Star found that two of these operations have used crypto wallets allegedly linked to Iran-backed terror groups.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/retailers-keep-cashing-in-on-crypto-atms-as-scams-surge/

CRYPTOCURRENCY Retailers keep cashing in on crypto ATMs as scams surge Dec 17, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/undercover-crypto-transactions-shady-multimillion-dollar-schemes-and-more-coin-laundry-stories-from-icijs-partners/

PARTNER STORIES Undercover crypto transactions, shady multimillion-dollar schemes, and more Coin Laundry stories from ICIJ’s partners Nov 26, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/crypto-cash-desk-currency-exchange-money-laundering/

FINANCIAL SECRECY From Dubai to Toronto, inside the crypto-to-cash storefronts fueling money laundering’s new frontier Nov 17, 2025

Recommended reading CRYPTOCURRENCY Retailers keep cashing in on crypto ATMs as scams surge Dec 17, 2025 PARTNER STORIES Undercover crypto transactions, shady multimillion-dollar schemes, and more Coin Laundry stories from ICIJ’s partners Nov 26, 2025 FINANCIAL SECRECY From Dubai to Toronto, inside the crypto-to-cash storefronts fueling money laundering’s new frontier Nov 17, 2025

The U.S. Justice Department last October announced the largest asset seizure in American history: a cache of bitcoin then valued at $15 billion tied to the Cambodia-based Prince Group that prosecutors alleged oversaw an empire of human trafficking and industrial-scale scamming.

The news offered a rare glimmer of hope for victims of sophisticated cryptocurrency scams. In part due to the ease of laundering cryptocurrencies, these victims have had a notoriously difficult time recovering their lost life savings or even getting law enforcement to begin tracing such funds.

“By dismantling a criminal empire built on forced labor and deception, we are sending a clear message that the United States will use every tool at its disposal to defend victims, recover stolen assets, and bring to justice those who exploit the vulnerable for profit,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a joint statement.

But in the five months since the announcement, questions and frustrations have begun to swirl around the Justice Department’s handling of the historic cache of seized funds. The Justice Department has given little indication of what it plans to do with the 127,271 seized bitcoins, currently worth around $9 billion, as it has swiftly rejected claims on the funds made by attorneys representing hundreds of alleged victims.

Daniel Thornburgh and other attorneys representing hundreds of alleged victims of crypto scams say the government is not providing a viable path for returning seized funds to rightful owners.

Victims’ advocates and attorneys fear the agency may use the funds to capitalize President Trump’s national Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, a government crypto stockpile advocated by the cryptocurrency industry.

“This would lead to victims being revictimized by their own government,” said Thornburgh.

He is part of a growing number of attorneys and victim advocates who are calling for a special victim fund to take over responsibility for the historic sum of seized assets. They argue that this alternative offers a clearer path to victims receiving restitution.

The Department of Justice declined to comment on the case.

In November, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and 36 partner publications released The Coin Laundry investigation that showed how cryptocurrency scam victims face immense difficulty recovering funds due to the rapidly expanding illicit crypto economy. In interviews, dozens of victims told ICIJ and its media partners that they faced financial ruin as criminals rapidly laundered their stolen funds through secretive crypto wallets. In many cases, reports to law enforcement yielded no response at all.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/massachusetts-sues-bitcoin-depot-alleging-the-crypto-atm-operator-knowingly-facilitated-crypto-scams/

IMPACT Massachusetts sues Bitcoin Depot, alleging the crypto ATM operator knowingly facilitated crypto scams Feb 26, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/as-crypto-industry-expands-u-s-slashes-office-examining-dirty-money-safeguards-of-cryptocurrency-exchanges/

IRS As crypto industry expands, U.S. slashes office examining dirty money safeguards of cryptocurrency exchanges Feb 17, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/coin-laundry/cryptocurrency-exchanges-binance-okx-money-laundering-crime/

CRYPTOCURRENCY Crypto giants moved billions linked to money launderers, drug traffickers and North Korean hackers Nov 17, 2025

Recommended reading IMPACT Massachusetts sues Bitcoin Depot, alleging the crypto ATM operator knowingly facilitated crypto scams Feb 26, 2026 IRS As crypto industry expands, U.S. slashes office examining dirty money safeguards of cryptocurrency exchanges Feb 17, 2026 CRYPTOCURRENCY Crypto giants moved billions linked to money launderers, drug traffickers and North Korean hackers Nov 17, 2025

ury Serov told ICIJ.

A blockchain is a digital ledger that stores information across a worldwide computer network. Cryptocurrency transaction data is stored in files known as “blocks,” which are saved chronologically to create a digital “chain.” Each block has a unique identifier, or hash, which is generated by a cryptographic algorithm that also includes data from the previous blocks in the chain. Blockchains are distributed, which means copies are saved across multiple computers and must match across the network to be valid, rather than relying on a centralized third party, like a bank. Blockchain technology is not exclusive to cryptocurrency. It can also be used to store other kinds of data, such as medical information or property records.

The U.S. government filings that ICIJ reviewed do not provide details on how it came into possession of the bitcoin. This lack of an official explanation has created an opening for speculation among experts, interested parties and a rival superpower. A Chinese cybercrimes agency recently suggested that the U.S. government originally stole the bitcoin through sophisticated hacking in 2020.

Last week, lawyers representing Chen demanded that the Justice Department explain how it seized the funds.

The Justice Department’s asset forfeiture filing, which describes the government’s rationale for taking the $15 billion, has also created some confusion about which victims may be entitled to the funds.

After the government announced its seizure in 2025, analysts quickly pointed out that the $15 billion in bitcoin had sat dormant in crypto wallets for years after their reported theft in 2020. Chen’s defense attorneys have argued these dormant assets have had no opportunity to commingle with any money taken from scam victims after 2020. But, in its asset forfeiture filing, some of the government’s most specific descriptions of the Prince Group’s alleged scams involve frauds that took place in 2021 and 2022 — after the seized bitcoin went dormant.

Attorneys for Chen last week criticized the asset forfeiture complaint’s use of these alleged crimes to justify seizing money that had been out of circulation since 2020.

The Prince Group argues that the U.S. government somehow took the coins and then created a story to justify keeping them. “This indictment is simply air cover for a giant cash grab — one that both does a disservice to the victims of these crypto scams and injustice to an innocent man,” a spokesperson for the Prince Group told ICIJ in a statement.

“Prosecutors used exaggerations, deceit, and outright impossibilities to convince a court to retroactively approve their theft of Bitcoin and to convince a grand jury of everyday Americans to indict an innocent man, Chen Zhi,” the spokesperson said. “Not only did prosecutors use salacious rumors and innuendo to make wild accusations completely unconnected to Chen, they made serious errors, generated falsehoods out of whole cloth, and acted with egregious negligence all in an effort to justify their desperate, unfounded allegations.”

In court filings last week, Prince Group lawyers highlighted another possibly problematic part of U.S. authorities’ case against Chen. Several photos that the indictment claimed as evidence of wrongdoing appear to have no ostensible relationship to the Prince Group or its alleged crimes.

One of these photos, offered up by U.S. prosecutors as an example of the Prince Group’s violence, shows a man bound to an overturned plastic lawnchair. But ICIJ was able to confirm that the same photo was featured on a Mongolian-language website six years ago in a post about a man whose testicles became stuck in a lawn chair and had to be extricated from the chair by medical workers. This article contains no mention of the Prince Group or any wrongdoing.

Left, a photo included in the U.S. indictment against Chen Zhi shows a man attached to a lawn chair in a hospital bed; Right, the same image was published in an unrelated article on a Mongolian-language website in 2020.

Another photo in the indictment shows a purported victim of the Prince Group with blood flowing from a head wound. However, on a Zoom call arranged by representatives for the Prince Group, the man, who requested anonymity, told ICIJ that the photo depicted injuries he sustained in a drunken fight in 2015, and that he has never been the victim of violence by an organized crime group.

Hany Farid, a visual forensics expert at the University of California at Berkeley, confirmed that the man ICIJ spoke with via Zoom is the same person pictured in the indictment.

The Department of Justice declined to comment on the photographs.

Leak to ICIJ

Contact us Do you have crypto wallet-related documents or blockchain expertise to share? Please send your crypto news tips to reporter Spencer Woodman at swoodman@icij.org or on Signal at spencerwoodman.07 Leak to ICIJ

Chelsea F.C. have been given a record fine for secretive rule-breaching payments revealed as part of ICIJ’s Cyprus Confidential investigation — but has avoided a points deduction.

The London-based Premier League club was fined 10.75 million pounds (about $14 million), handed a suspended ban from signing first-team players and given an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban.

The suspended transfer ban lasts for two years and will be triggered if there are further breaches.

The Premier League imposed the penalties over breaches of financial rules during Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich’s ownership.

“All sanctions will take effect immediately with the club also paying the full costs of the League’s investigation and disciplinary processes,” the Premier League said.

The sanctions followed revelations of secret payments revealed by ICIJ partners The Bureau of Investigative Journalism and The Guardian.

Those revelations were made as part of  ICIJ and Paper Trail Media’s Cyprus Confidential investigation that examined Abramovich’s dealings in Cyprus, a notorious secrecy hub used by the oligarch to manage his fortune.

https://www.icij.org/investigations/russia-archive/leak-reveals-majority-interest-in-roman-abramovichs-nearly-1-billion-art-collection-was-transferred-to-his-ex-wife-ahead-of-sanctions/

Art Leak reveals majority interest in Roman Abramovich’s nearly $1 billion art collection was transferred to his ex-wife ahead of sanctions Sep 22, 2023

https://www.icij.org/news/2025/09/chelsea-fc-faces-over-six-dozen-charges-for-improper-conduct-under-abramovichs-ownership/

IMPACT Chelsea FC faces over six dozen charges for improper conduct under Abramovich’s ownership Sep 12, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cyprus-confidential/chelsea-fc-once-owned-by-roman-abramovich-could-face-punishment-over-secret-payments-experts-warn/

CYPRUS CONFIDENTIAL Chelsea FC, once owned by Roman Abramovich, could face punishment over secret payments, experts warn Nov 15, 2023

Recommended reading Art Leak reveals majority interest in Roman Abramovich’s nearly $1 billion art collection was transferred to his ex-wife ahead of sanctions Sep 22, 2023 IMPACT Chelsea FC faces over six dozen charges for improper conduct under Abramovich’s ownership Sep 12, 2025 CYPRUS CONFIDENTIAL Chelsea FC, once owned by Roman Abramovich, could face punishment over secret payments, experts warn Nov 15, 2023

National governments must take stronger measures to stop arms trafficking and allow legal remedies for their harms, according to a newly issued opinion by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a long awaited finding that comes as Mexico is pressuring the United States to stop the illegal flow of guns across its borders.

The court, which is based in Costa Rica and has jurisdiction over some members of the Organization of American States, said in an advisory issued last week that governments have a “duty of due diligence regarding activities that may result in illicit trafficking of firearms.”

That duty, it found, includes monitoring and supervising firearms manufacturers to ensure their products are not enabling human rights violations, and providing effective judicial remedies for those whose rights have been violated. The “indiscriminate availability of firearms”, the court wrote, threatens the “right to life” and the “right to personal integrity” of vulnerable groups, including women and children.

U.S. federal law protects firearms manufacturers from most legal liability for crimes committed with their products.

“States must undertake risk assessments to anticipate the possibility that imports or exports of arms may lead to negative consequences such as undermining peace and security, as well as the commission or facilitation of serious violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law, particularly when affecting vulnerable populations,” the court wrote.

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/03/lawmakers-seek-to-stop-sales-to-the-public-of-ammunition-made-at-u-s-army-plant/

IMPACT Lawmakers seek to stop sales to the public of ammunition made at U.S. Army plant Mar 06, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2026/02/mexican-cartels-overpower-police-with-ammunition-made-for-the-us-military/

INVESTIGATION Mexican cartels overpower police with ammunition made for the US military Feb 07, 2026

https://www.icij.org/news/2025/11/ar-15-ammunition-at-a-crime-scene-good-odds-this-us-army-plant-made-it/

United States AR-15 ammunition at a crime scene? Good odds this US Army plant made it. Nov 06, 2025

Recommended reading IMPACT Lawmakers seek to stop sales to the public of ammunition made at U.S. Army plant Mar 06, 2026 INVESTIGATION Mexican cartels overpower police with ammunition made for the US military Feb 07, 2026 United States AR-15 ammunition at a crime scene? Good odds this US Army plant made it. Nov 06, 2025