PRISA takes legal action against three media outlets for libel

Juan Luis Cebrián, chairman of PRISA (the parent company of EL PAÍS), is taking legal action in his own and in the group’s name against three media outlets for linking his name to the Panama Papers scandal.

Television station La Sexta and the online newspapers ElConfidencial.com and ElDiario.es are being targeted “for libelous information and comments released by these media, with a clear intention of linking him to the so-called Panama Papers, where he does not appear,” according to a press release sent out on Monday.

PRISA, the leading media group in the Spanish and Portuguese language markets, notes that the authors of these reports have been warned, as have the people in charge of disseminating them, that “the insinuations are absolutely false, have a clearly libelous intention, and represent serious harm to the honor and reputation of Juan Luis Cebrián as well as to the PRISA Group and its companies.”

The so-called Panama Papers refer to a massive leak of insider files detailing offshore financial dealings by hundreds of individuals, including current and former world leaders. The documents came from Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca, and came to light in early April after extensive work on the papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and more than 100 news organizations. They show how the law firm has helped wealthy clients conceal their assets over the last 40 years.