Ramón Fonseca Mora (born 14 July 1952) is a Panamanian novelist, lawyer and co-founder of

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca & Co. () was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider.minister-counselor Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

Juan Carlos Varela Juan Carlos Varela Rodríguez (; born 13 December 1963) is a Panamanian businessman and former politician who served as the President of Panama from 2014 to 2019. Varela was Vice President of Panama from 2009 to 2014, and Minister of Foreign ...

, and president of the

Panameñista Party The Panameñista Party is a nationalist political party in Panama. It was the third largest party by number of adherents with 256,138 members (as of February 2016). Founding and early history The party is the oldest continuously operating pa ...

until he was dismissed in March 2016, due to the Brazilian

Operation Car Wash Operation Car Wash ( pt, Operação Lava Jato) was a criminal investigation by the Federal Police of Brazil's Curitiba branch. It began in March 2014 and was initially headed by investigative judge in France, but unlike judges in the common law ...

. In 2016, Mossack Fonseca was raided by police on suspicion of money-laundering, bribery and corruption. Fonseca and his partner Jürgen Mossack were arrested and jailed on 10 February 2017. They were initially refused bail because the court saw a flight risk, but were released on 21 April 2017 after a judge ruled they had cooperated with the investigation and ordered them each to pay $500,000 in bail. Numerous lawsuits including serious allegations of collusion with despotic regimes, mafia, and global criminals are ongoing.

Early life

Fonseca was born on 14 July 1952 in Panama and studied law and political science at the

University of Panama The University of Panama ( es, Universidad de Panamá) was founded on October 7, 1935. Initially, it had 175 students learning education, commerce, natural sciences, pharmacy, pre-engineering or law. , it had 74,059 students distributed in 228 b ...

and the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...

. As a young man, "he hoped to save the world". As a young man Fonseca reportedly considered joining the priesthood. Also, according to the ICIJ he revealed in a 2008 television interview that, "I didn't save anything, I didn't make any change. I decided then, as I was a little more mature, to dedicate myself to my profession, to have a family, to get married and have a regular life … As one gets older, you turn more materialistic."

Career

In 1977, Fonseca and Jürgen Mossack founded the law firm

Mossack Fonseca Mossack Fonseca & Co. () was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider.Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

. It went on to become the world's fourth-largest offshore law firm, with more than 40 offices all over the world. In March 2018, the firm shut down in the wake of its involvement in the Panama Papers affair. He is also a member of the

. Fonseca is also an award-winning novelist. He has written four novels, along with plays and short stories. He has been awarded the Ricardo Miró Prize, the national literary award in Panama, twice, for novels ''Dance of the Butterflies'' (1994) and ''Dream City'' (1998).

Criminal investigations

Panama Papers

Following the

leak A leak is a way (usually an opening) for fluid to escape a container or fluid-containing system, such as a tank or a ship's hull, through which the contents of the container can escape or outside matter can enter the container. Leaks are usually ...

of 11.5 million Mossack Fonseca documents by an anonymous whistle-blower to the German newspaper '' Süddeutsche Zeitung'' in 2016, it was revealed how offshore tax regimes were exploited for tax purposes. While offshore entities are not in themselves illegal, the documents showed how some of the more than 214,000 shell companies set up by Mossack Fonseca were used for illegal purposes, including fraud and tax evasion. The documents were shared with the

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 ...

. As a result, more than 150 inquiries and criminal investigations were launched in more than 70 countries worldwide. On 20 October 2020, prosecutors in

Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

issued international arrest warrants for Fonseca and his German-born law partner, Jürgen Mossack. Charges against them include accessory to

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

and forming a criminal organization, with the firm noted as central to the investigation.

Money laundering in Brazil

According to court papers filed on 15 October 2019, Mossack and Fonseca "are the subjects of an FBI Investigation in the

Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York State. Two of these are in New York City: New ...

" and are "defending criminal charges against them in Panama." In February 2017, both Fonseca and Mossack were arrested in connection with an investigation into money laundering and corruption in Brazil, known as

. They were released on bail the following April.

Personal life

Fonseca has six children. He was previously married to Elizabeth Ward Neiman, who became the Ambassador of the Republic of Panama to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 9 September 2020. his son, Eduardo Fonseca Ward, was the former ambassador to the UAE.

Works

* 1976, ''Las cortes internacionales de justicia'' * 1977, ''Reflexiones de derecho judicial'' * 1985, ''Compañías panameñas'' * 1988, ''Panamá, un viejo lugar bajo el sol'' * 1994, ''La danza de las mariposas'', won the

Ricardo Miró Ricardo Miró Denis (November 5, 1883 in Panama City, Panama – March 2, 1940), was a Panamanian writer and is considered to be the most noteworthy poet of this country. He traveled to Bogotá at the age of fifteen to study painting, but was forc ...

Prize, Panama's national book award * 1995, ''La isla de las iguanas'' * 1996, ''La ventana abierta'' * ''1997, Ojitos de ángel'' * 1998, ''Soñar con la ciudad'', won the

Prize * ''2000, 4 mujeres vestidas de negro'' * 2007, ''El desenterrador'' * 2012, ''Míster Politicus'', "articulates the tangled processes that unscrupulous officials use to gain power and achieve their detestable ambitions""The saga of Mossack Fonseca"
''The Hindu'' 20 April 2017

In popular culture

In 2016, Steven Soderbergh announced he would produce a film about the Panama Papers affair. The comedy-drama '' The Laundromat'' premiered at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

on 1 September 2019. Fonseca and Mossack tried to block the film's release on Netflix by filing a defamation lawsuit against Netflix in October 2019, arguing that the ongoing FBI investigation and possible trial in New York as well as their defence against criminal charges in Panama could be negatively prejudiced by the way they are portrayed in ''The Laundromat''. A judge ruled that the case was filed in the wrong court, transferring it to Los Angeles. With a court decision still pending, the film was made available for streaming by Netflix on 18 October 2019. In the film, Fonseca is portrayed by Antonio Banderas.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fonseca Mora, Ramon 1952 births Living people Alumni of London Business School Panamanian novelists Panamanian male writers Male novelists 20th-century Panamanian lawyers People named in the Panama Papers People from Panama City 21st-century Panamanian lawyers