Explanation

The whistleblower behind the “Panama Papers” which revealed major tax evasion and fraud worldwide said he feared Russian retribution, in an interview published Saturday by Germany’s Der Spiegel. The magazine quoted him under his pseudonym John Doe as saying he had evidence of financial wrongdoing by top Russian officials and their allies which helped fund the war in Ukraine. Asked by Spiegel whether he feared for his life, he said, “It’s a risk that I live with, given that the Russian government has expressed the fact that it wants me dead.”