The story that rocked the world: Ten years of the Panama Papers, part 1

German journalist Bastian Obermayer received an encrypted message from an anonymous source in 2015 offering 11.5 million confidential documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which would become the Panama Papers. Obermayer and colleague Frederik Obermaier brought the leak to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, recognizing the scale required global collaboration that no single newsroom could manage alone. ICIJ director Gerard Ryle authenticated the documents by cross-referencing them against an earlier million-document Mossack Fonseca leak, then recruited major outlets including The Guardian and the BBC to participate in the investigation. By March 4, 2015, Ryle recognized the leaked dataset would expose offshore financial dealings at "the highest levels of power," including names of a Russian mafia boss and a European leader. The project ultimately grew to include dozens of newsrooms, launching publicly in April 2016 as a landmark collaborative investigation into global financial secrecy.