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Comment by pdabbadabba | Hacker News Reader

> When asked about the lack of Americans in the original release, the German newspaper’s editor responded mysteriously: "Just wait for what is coming next."

We may see something eventually. But it has also been pointed out that U.S. laws give wealthy individuals fewer reasons to form companies in Panama. It is possible to form entities with secret owners under U.S. law, with a little effort. So the primary reason for Americans to go offshore may be tax-related, for which Panama would not normally be the jurisdiction of choice.

See: http://fusion.net/story/287671/americans-panama-papers-trove...

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There's a whole series of NPR Planet Money podcasts about setting up offshore (and onshore!) shell companies.

http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2012/07/27/157499893/episo...

Just finished these as well. PM couldn't have lucked out more with the timing on this one.

I don't think it was luck. I was just listening to All Things Considered and apparently there was considerable collaboration among journalists. The Planet Money podcasts were rebroadcasts from a few years ago. I bet they knew the story would be dropping soon, and they decided to give their listeners a primer.

http://www.npr.org/2016/04/05/473139196/panama-papers-leak-i...

Wow. Good point.

There are Americans named, actually, though just not as much in the limelight: http://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/americans-including...

Yes, this is discussed in the article I linked to as well. It may be that, although Americans generally have less need to set up shell corporations in Panama, Panama may be relatively more attractive for criminals, since not only can they be anonymous (no different from the U.S.), but also less easily reached through U.S. judicial processes.

This may mean that, though there are fewer Americans named in these files than one might expect, their dealings might be shadier, on average, than other nationalities'.

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