Panama Papers

==== Niue ====
Mossack Fonseca approached [[Niue]] in 1996 and offered to help set up a tax haven on the tiny South Sea island. The law firm drafted the necessary legislation, permitting offshore companies to operate in total secrecy. They took care of all the paperwork, the island got a modest fee for each filing, and it seemed like quite a deal, even if they were required by law now to provide all banking paperwork in Russian and Chinese as well as English.<ref name=DBNiue>{{cite news |url = http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/06/the-polynesian-rock-that-made-millions-from-panama-papers-crooks.html |title=Polynesian 'Rock' That Made Millions From Panama Papers' Crooks: How Niue, a coral outcropping with just 1,190 residents, rolled out the welcome mat for Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the massive records leak—and made a tidy profit |date=April 5, 2016 |access-date=April 26, 2016 |author=Michael Daly |work=Daily Beast |url-status=live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160502191518/http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/04/06/the-polynesian-rock-that-made-millions-from-panama-papers-crooks.html |archive-date=May 2, 2016 }}</ref>

Soon the filings almost covered the island's year budget. The US government however made official noises in 2001 about laundering criminal proceeds and [[Chase Bank]] blacklisted the island and [[Bank of New York]] followed suit. This caused inconvenience to the population so they let their contract with Mossack Fonseca expire and many of the privacy-seekers on the banking world moved on.<ref name=DBNiue /> Some did stay however, apparently; the Panama Papers database lists nearly 10,000 companies and trusts set up on Niue, population 1200.<ref name=APNZ />