The beloved three girl scouts who stake out The Arrillaga Dining Commons each year to sell cookies have been named among the global crime syndicates and crooked politicians of the Panama Papers.
At 2:05 PM on Tuesday, Julie Laurenson, Katie Cohen, and Maggie Watson were arrested by the FBI just off Campus Drive. They were booked later that day on charges of tax evasion and fraud, and – for Katie, age 8 – resisting arrest and possession of Schedule I narcotics with intention to sell.
The financial misdeeds come at a perilous time at Stanford as certain commercial activity has drawn the ire of divestment movements.
While the Girl Scouts were not directly involved in any of the hot-button issues debated on campus, the Panama Papers leak reveals that the Thin Mints Fund redirected over €3 billion to various private prison corporations over the past five years. Likewise, the Samoas Fund was designated for use by poachers and loggers in the Amazon.
The ASSU, which is co-signed in a Russian arms deal outlined in the leak, declined to comment.
