Archive for March, 2008
« Previous EntriesDon’t Go to Jail to Protect Your Assets
Monday, March 31st, 2008Asset protection isn’t a game. It’s not something to do casually, either. Do it right, or you risk losing your assets…or occasionally, being imprisoned for your efforts. And so from stage right enters our newest "don’t do this" asset protection poster child: one Mary Morris of Palm Beach, Florida. Now housed in the Palm Beach [...]
Did the USA Outsource Passports to Terrorists?
Friday, March 28th, 2008It’s almost unbelievable, but it’s true. The U.S. government outsources key aspects of the production of its supposedly ultra-secure electronic passports, to numerous foreign countries. Key aspects of the technology used to protect the security of e-passports have been stolen. Osama bin Laden and his terrorist friends may have access it, along with Chinese intelligence [...]
Swimming with the Sharks
Monday, March 24th, 2008How do you know whether the offshore provider you’re dealing with is honest? What assurance do you have that he simply won’t take your money and run? The only way you can find out the answer is to conduct a little "due diligence." And that’s what the upcoming 6th Annual Offshore Alert Financial Due Diligence [...]
Get Ready for Higher Taxes in 2009
Sunday, March 23rd, 2008It’s a truism to observe that politicians will promise just about anything to get elected. And you don’t have to be a genius to know that these promises are made to be broken. And so it is with the leading presidential contenders when it comes to tax policy. On the Democratic side, both Barack Obama [...]
Leave America, Pay an Exit Tax?
Thursday, March 20th, 2008While Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress disagree on almost everything else, there’s virtual unanimity on one issue: the "need" to punish anyone who wants to permanently disconnect from the U.S. tax system. Citizens of every major nation, save the United States, can simply leave their own country for an extended period, and permanently [...]
Want E-Mail Privacy? Use a non-U.S. E-Mail Service Provider
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Like so many other things, especially investing, your e-mail communications are more private if you conduct them offshore. That’s because U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies essentially have "carte blanche" to U.S. e-mail providers. In certain cases, so do ordinary civil litigants. Several factors, both legal and technological, facilitate surveillance of U.S.-based e-mail accounts. Since [...]
It’s Enough to Make You Quake in Your Boots
Monday, March 17th, 2008Suppose you own a commercial property. It’s an old building; one that’s susceptible to damage by earthquakes. But under applicable law, you have until 2018 to renovate the building for seismic safety. Quiz time: if there’s an earthquake that damages your building, can you be found negligent (and therefore financially responsible) for any deaths or [...]
Kellogg Brown & Root Saves Taxes Offshore…and so Can You
Thursday, March 13th, 2008Tax havens are once again in the news. Revelations have surfaced that the nation’s largest Iraq war contractor "evaded" hundreds of millions of dollars in federal Medicare and Social Security taxes. The company in question, Kellogg Brown & Root (KB&R), avoided these taxes by hiring workers through companies based in the Cayman Islands. That’s led [...]
Even Elliot Spitzer’s No Match for the “Bank Secrecy Act”
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008Talk about comeuppance. New York governor Elliot Spitzer, the poster boy for ethics on Wall Street and elsewhere in the financial markets now finds his political career in ruins. And it’s all because of an almost-unknown law: the Bank Secrecy Act. The so-called "Sheriff of Wall Street" made the mistake of withdrawing large amounts of [...]
Uncle Sam Doesn’t Want Anyone to Visit Cuba
Monday, March 10th, 2008One of the best-kept secrets in America’s arsenal of financial sanctions is the U.S. Treasury Department’s Terrorist Watch List. It’s maintained by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to enforce economic and trade sanctions against more than a dozen countries. (I wrote about this list here.) One of those countries is Cuba. Under [...]
« Previous Entries