PANAMA CITY — A Panamanian judge acquitted 39 people in a money laundering case Thursday, including lawyers Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, who were key figures in the Panama Papers case.
Judge Baloisa Marquinez Moran ruled that the prosecution did not prove that the law firm Mossack Fonseca handled illicit funds from Brazil, or try to hide them.
Mossack and Fonseca had faced charges of creating accounts in multiple countries that were used by the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
The two had been accused of setting up offshore accounts for Odebrecht to move bribes.
Fonseca has claimed they were the victims of “scapegoating” to hide who accepted bribes from Odebrecht.
The Panama Papers included a collection of 11 million secret financial documents that illustrated how some of the world’s richest people hide their money.