Ramón Fonseca Mora is a Panamanian novelist and lawyer, the co-founder of Mossack Fonseca, a former law firm based in Panama with more than 40 offices worldwide. He was minister-counselor of Juan Carlos Varela, and president of the Panameñista Party until he was dismissed in March 2016, due to the Brazilian Operation Car Wash. In 2016, the law firm he owned was raided by police on suspicion of money-laundering, bribery and corruption. Fonseca and his partner Jürgen Mossack were arrested and jailed in February 2017. They were initially refused bail because the court saw a flight risk, but were released in 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 and the London School of Economics. 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 in Panama City. 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 Panameñista Party. 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 nationalliterary award in Panama, twice, for novels Dance of the Butterflies and Dream City.
Panama Papers
Following the leak of 11.5 million Mossack Fonseca documents by an anonymous whistle-blower to the German newspaperSüddeutsche 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. As a result, more than 150 inquiries and criminal investigations were launched in more than 70 countries worldwide.
Investigations
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" 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 Operation Car Wash. They were released on bail the following April.
Personal life
Fonseca has six children. He was previously married to Elizabeth Ward Neiman. his son, Eduardo Fonseca Ward, was the former ambassador to the UAE.
In 2016, Steven Soderbergh announced he would produce a film about the Panama Papers affair. The comedy-dramaThe Laundromat premiered at the Venice Film Festival 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 October 18, 2019. In the film, Fonseca is portrayed by Antonio Banderas.
