--- title: Panama Papers Leak Ties Putin to Offshore Money Trail description: A massive leak of confidential documents purports to show how allies of Vladimir Putin may be tied to a $2 billion offshore money trail canonical: https://time.com/4280200/panama-papers-vladimir-putin-russia-mossack-fonseca-leak/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-03T23:15:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T15:05:50.000Z article:section: World og:title: Massive Leak Ties Putin Associates to $2 Billion Offshore Money Trail og:description: The leak contained documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca og:url: https://time.com/4280200/panama-papers-vladimir-putin-russia-mossack-fonseca-leak/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt376fbdfd2199f435/69888d86196cf485bd03b05a/vladimir-putin-ties-panama-papers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: vladimir-putin-ties-panama-papers og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Massive Leak Ties Putin Associates to $2 Billion Offshore Money Trail twitter:description: The leak contained documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt376fbdfd2199f435/69888d86196cf485bd03b05a/vladimir-putin-ties-panama-papers.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Massive Leak Ties Vladimir Putin's Associates to $2 Billion Offshore Money Trail  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:05 PM CUTPublished: Apr 3, 2016 11:15 PM CUT  In this June 18, 2015, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli during their meeting at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia. In this June 18, 2015, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli during their meeting at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.Alexander Zemlianichenko—Pool/EPA  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 3:05 PM CUTPublished: Apr 3, 2016 11:15 PM CUT A [massive leak of confidential documents](http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/panama-papers-money-hidden-offshore "undefined") purports to show how allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin may be tied to a $2 billion offshore money trail. Close friends and family members of the Russian leader have benefited from their relationship with him with millions of dollars made in secret deals, according to The _Guardian_. The newspaper pored over millions of files leaked from Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The documents were obtained from an anonymous source and shared by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and the [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists](https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-putin-russia-offshore-network.html "undefined") with the _Guardian,_ the [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35918845 "undefined") and other news outlets. The news outlets say the documents reveal that $2 billion has been secretly channeled through a network of banks and companies linked to Putin’s inner circle. The BBC says the files also show that the law firm allegedly helped many other clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax. Mossack Fonseca has strongly denied any wrongdoing, saying in an initial [statement](https://panamapapers.icij.org/blog/20160403-mossack-fonseca-response-icij.html "undefined")that it conducts “a thorough due-diligence process” before helping to incorporate companies. The company also sent a more detailed response, which can be read in full [here](https://panamapapers.icij.org/blog/20160403-mossack-fonseca-response-icij.html "undefined"). Russia said Monday that Putin is the “main target” of the document leak and not linked to any offshore activity, the Associated Press reports. Read more at [The _Guardian_](http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/apr/03/panama-papers-money-hidden-offshore "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4280200/panama-papers-vladimir-putin-russia-mossack-fonseca-leak/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4280200/panama-papers-vladimir-putin-russia-mossack-fonseca-leak/"},"headline":"Massive Leak Ties Vladimir Putin's Associates to $2 Billion Offshore Money Trail","datePublished":"2016-04-03T23:15:57.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T15:05:50.000Z","description":"The leak contained documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca","url":"https://time.com/4280200/panama-papers-vladimir-putin-russia-mossack-fonseca-leak/","keywords":["russia","Vladimir Putin","Panama Papers"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt376fbdfd2199f435/69888d86196cf485bd03b05a/vladimir-putin-ties-panama-papers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt376fbdfd2199f435/69888d86196cf485bd03b05a/vladimir-putin-ties-panama-papers.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"vladimir-putin-ties-panama-papers","caption":"In this June 18, 2015, file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli during their meeting at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.","creditText":"Alexander Zemlianichenko—Pool/EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4280200/panama-papers-vladimir-putin-russia-mossack-fonseca-leak/","name":"Massive Leak Ties Vladimir Putin's Associates to $2 Billion Offshore Money Trail"}}]}] ```