A German court has convicted the former co-owner of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca — the subject of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ Panama Papers investigation — for aiding and abetting tax evasion.

Cologne’s regional court sentenced Christoph Zollinger, a Swiss-Panamanian dual national, to one year and nine months’ probation, according to ICIJ’s German partner ZDF. A spokesperson for the court confirmed to ICIJ that the probation period will last for three years.

German prosecutors accused Zollinger and accomplices of establishing offshore companies based in Panama and other tax havens in exchange for payment, which the court determined was done “on a massive scale” and “in a factory-like manner.”

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/swiss-lawyer-from-panama-papers-firm-to-face-court-on-tax-evasion-charges/

Offshore finance Swiss lawyer from Panama Papers firm to face court on tax evasion charges Nov 28, 2025

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/ten-years-after-the-panama-papers-enablers-and-tax-cheats-are-still-being-brought-to-justice/

IMPACT Ten years after the Panama Papers, enablers and tax cheats are still being brought to justice Apr 02, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/panama-papers/judge-orders-nazi-looted-modigliani-linked-to-panama-papers-be-returned-to-heirs/

IMPACT Judge orders Nazi-looted Modigliani linked to Panama Papers be returned to heirs Apr 06, 2026

Recommended reading Offshore finance Swiss lawyer from Panama Papers firm to face court on tax evasion charges Nov 28, 2025 IMPACT Ten years after the Panama Papers, enablers and tax cheats are still being brought to justice Apr 02, 2026 IMPACT Judge orders Nazi-looted Modigliani linked to Panama Papers be returned to heirs Apr 06, 2026

Lawmakers and experts in several countries have called for pharmaceutical companies to be more transparent about drug pricing and tax dealings following revelations from ICIJ’s Cancer Calculus.

The investigation, led by ICIJ and 47 media partners, explores how Merck & Co. — known as MSD outside the United States and Canada — keeps huge revenues flowing while pricing out many patients and governments from its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.

ICIJ’s investigation revealed that Merck operates with a gross lack of transparency in pricing, even as the cost of Keytruda strains public health systems and counterfeiters reap massive windfalls from duping the expensive drug. The findings have so far elicited widespread reactions from politicians, government agencies, and health and financial accountability experts.

Merck’s tax maneuvers highlighted in the U.S.

The international collaboration found that Merck reduced its U.S. taxes by recording profits in lower-tax jurisdictions. In its 2025 annual report, Merck disclosed it paid around $1.6 billion in U.S. income taxes, compared to $4.5 billion in other countries.

At a U.S. congressional hearing on corporate taxation on Tuesday, Zorka Milin, head of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, confirmed those findings.

“Despite making more than half of its sales at outrageous prices to American customers, Merck paid more taxes to Switzerland than it did to the U.S.,” Milin said at the Democrat-led hearing. “For decades, major American pharma companies have been moving their profits and sometimes also their factories overseas. Their customers are mostly American, their intellectual property is developed here with support of American tax dollars, but somehow their profits are Irish, Swiss, Dutch.”

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/merck-keytruda-cancer-drug-price/

OVERVIEW How Merck turned its wonder drug into a blockbuster — and priced out cancer patients worldwide Apr 13, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/a-burgeoning-black-market-inflated-dosing-and-the-over-judicialization-of-health-care-reporters-around-the-world-tell-stories-about-keytruda/

PARTNER STORIES A ‘burgeoning black market’, inflated dosing and the over-judicialization of health care: reporters around the world tell stories about Keytruda Apr 21, 2026

https://www.icij.org/investigations/cancer-calculus/report-mercks-blockbuster-cancer-drug-topped-200000-a-year-under-trump/

KEYTRUDA Report: Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug topped $200,000 a year under Trump Apr 17, 2026

Recommended reading OVERVIEW How Merck turned its wonder drug into a blockbuster — and priced out cancer patients worldwide Apr 13, 2026 PARTNER STORIES A ‘burgeoning black market’, inflated dosing and the over-judicialization of health care: reporters around the world tell stories about Keytruda Apr 21, 2026 KEYTRUDA Report: Merck’s blockbuster cancer drug topped $200,000 a year under Trump Apr 17, 2026