Orange County developer and billionaire Igor Olenicoff is among the world’s rich and famous outed by this week’s leak of secret documents from a Panama law firm that sets up offshore financial accounts and shell corporations.

Olenicoff, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal tax evasion, is listed in the so-called Panama Papers that have made headlines around the globe, according McClatchy’s Washington Bureau.

The documents state that Olenicoff, 73, with a property portfolio of $3.5 billion, is a shareholder of Olen Oil Management Ltd., McClatchy reported.

Olenicoff owns Newport Beach-based Olen Properties and currently resides in Florida. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

His attorney, Julie Ault, declined to discuss the issue, saying only that the Panama Papers have “no association with Olen Properties or any other companies we have here.”

Olenicoff faced up to six months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion involving a Swiss bank, but stayed out of prison after paying a $52 million fine and agreeing to repatriate his holdings. He also was ordered to present the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana with a list of all his assets.

Olenicoff sued the Swiss bank that guided his offshore transactions, seeking $500 million in damages, saying the firm guided his financial activities that resulted in criminal charges.

Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, declined to comment Thursday on whether federal prosecutors might respond to information released in the Panama Papers.

The Panama Papers consist of more than 11 million secret financial documents spanning 40 years and obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The documents allegedly came from a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, which says it engaged in no misconduct.

World leaders have been tarred by the documents, including Iceland’s prime minister and Argentina’s president, as accusations fly that ties to offshore accounts were not properly disclosed.

Olenicoff is no stranger to controversy.

In 2004, Olen Properties paid $272,024 to settle IRS claims for 1994 to 1996, after the agency originally sought $148 million in back taxes and penalties from Olenicoff’s company.

In 2014, Olenicoff lost two lawsuits brought by artists who accused him of stealing their designs for work incorporated into his Orange County developments. Damages were erased by a judge in one case; a confidential settlement resolved the second lawsuit.

The son of refugees from Russia, Olenicoff was born in Soviet-occupied Iran in 1942. He immigrated to the United States at age 15 and graduated from USC.

Contact the writer: tsaavedra@ocregister.com