NEW YORK, USA — US federal prosecutors have reportedly launched a criminal investigation into whether employees at Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the “Panama Papers” scandal, knowingly helped clients launder money or evade taxes.

Mossack Fonseca has been in the global spotlight since early April, when a consortium of journalists published a trove of leaked documents showing that the Panama-based law firm created hundreds of thousands of shell companies and offshore accounts for rich and powerful people around the world.

The investigation, led by the Manhattan US attorney’s office and the Justice Department’s main office in Washington, is said to be focused on whether individuals within Mossack Fonseca worked with clients to knowingly facilitate criminal activity. Prosecutors are reportedly considering charges that could include conspiracies to launder money, evade taxes, and hide bribes to foreign officials.

While the investigation, which is still in the early stages, is focused on a few lower-level Mossack Fonseca employees, prosecutors plan to expand its scope.

In an April interview with The Wall Street Journal after the Panama Papers were released, Jürgen Mossack, a co-founder of Mossack Fonseca, said the firm uses intermediaries to help set up shell companies, so it doesn’t typically know what the companies are used for

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