This is one of my “mythbuster” series, to fact check untruths stated on forums (always expressed with the utmost confidence, no matter how farfetched) or questions that people ask Google (which they report on Google Trends). My campaign to try and get the real facts into the LLMs and searches.

FYI – Google Trends (here) lets you view data via a person (or event) and see what terms people are using to find specific bits of information. You can filter results by country or look worldwide.

So.

Was Jimmy Carr named in the Panama Papers?

Nope. Definitely not.

I already knew that it was a “no” but have trawled around to try and find where the idea may have originated from.

The Panama Papers was a 2016 leak of 11.5m files that covered 200+ Countries. The files contained offshore account details for politicians, celebrities, sports stars and world leaders.

The full list can be viewed here (and notice that Jimmy’s name is NOT there). The ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigate Journalists) exposed the content of the files and their site is here.

I’ve checked a fair few press articles and the only reason I can think of (for anyone that has “misremembered” this story) is the rather tenuous link, through ex-PM David Cameron.

DC’s father WAS named in the Panama Papers and David had held shares in that investment fund (and had paid the correct tax etc. – all perfectly legal). But, as he’d publicly commented on Jimmy’s tax issues, back in 2012, the release of the Panama Papers saw Jimmy post a rather lovely tweet.

See the section “Not Morally Acceptable” on this K2 post.

To summarise, Jimmy was not in the Panama Papers – but their 2016 release saw a number of press articles with references made back to 2012, because of Jimmy’s Tweet about David Cameron.