John Doe is the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

used by the

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

in the 2016 Panama Papers leak, who turned over 11.5 million documents from the law firm

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca & Co. () was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider.income inequality There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...

and financial corruption globally. The whistleblower has offered to help prosecutors build their cases, on the condition of legal protection.

Initial contact with

In 2014, Doe contacted Bastian Obermayer, a reporter working for German newspaper , with the message "Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data?" When Obermayer answered in the affirmative, Doe continued, saying, "There are a couple of conditions. My life is in danger. We will only chat over encrypted files. No meeting, ever." When Obermayer asked Doe why they were leaking the data, Doe responded that they sought to "make these crimes public." Doe then proceeded to transfer roughly 11.5 million documents from the records of Panamanian law firm

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca & Co. () was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider.International Consortium of Investigative Journalists The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with ...

(ICIJ) posted the full written statement on its website.

Notes

References

Unidentified people Living people Whistleblowers Panama Papers Year of birth missing (living people) {{Criminal-law-stub