paul_soccer12 posted:

quote:

The files suggest the state of South Dakota, in particular, is sheltering billions of dollars in wealth linked to individuals previously accused of serious financial crimes.

Stevie Lee posted:

lmao

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/14/the-great-american-tax-haven-why-the-super-rich-love-south-dakota-trust-laws posted:

In the late 70s, South Dakota’s economy was mired in deep depression, and [Governor] Janklow was prepared to do almost anything to bring in a bit of business. He sensed an opportunity in undercutting the regulations imposed by other states. At the time, national interest rates were set unusually high by the Federal Reserve, meaning that credit card companies were having to pay more to borrow funds than they could earn by lending them out, and were therefore losing money every time someone bought something. Citibank had invested heavily in credit cards, and was therefore at significant risk of going bankrupt.

The bank was searching for a way to escape this bind, and found it in Janklow. “We were in the poorhouse when Citibank called us,” the governor recalled in a later interview. “They were in bigger problems than we were. We could make it last. They couldn’t make it last. I was slowly bleeding to death; they were gushing to death.”

At the bank’s suggestion, in 1981, the governor abolished laws that at the time – in South Dakota, as in every other state in the union – set an upper limit to the interest rates lenders could charge. These “anti-usury” rules were a legacy of the New Deal era. They protected consumers from loan sharks, but they also prevented Citibank making a profit from credit cards. So, when Citibank promised Janklow 400 jobs if he abolished them, he had the necessary law passed in a single day. “The economy was, at that time, dead,” Janklow remembered. “I was desperately looking for an opportunity for jobs for South Dakotans.”

Fresh from having freed wealthy corporations from onerous regulations, Janklow looked around for a way to free wealthy individuals too, and thus came to the decision that would eventually turn South Dakota into a Switzerland for the 21st century. He decided to deregulate trusts.

quote:

Jurg Wissmann, a Swiss lawyer who set up at least 150 companies in Belize and other tax havens, warned officers at Alcogal, a firm that helped elite clients hide wealth, never to store any of his clients’ names on computer systems: “You are obliged to keep secrecy for our clients, and to not make feasible at all a second Panama Papers story.”

Nearly half of the politicians whose names surfaced in the Pandora trove were clients of Alcogal. Among them are former Panamanian presidents, the president of Ecuador, a leading candidate in next month’s Honduran election, and King Abdullah.

paul_soccer12 posted:

Judakel posted:

any celebs that are whiny libs?

The Oldest Man posted:

Isn't South Dakota where all the billionaires register their tax-exempt "non-profit car museum" lambo collection vehicles to dodge paying state taxes on a fleet of luxury cars that if liquidated could fund the end of homelessness in a medium sized city

vyelkin posted:

it's the least surprising revelation ever that rich ghouls hide enormous sums of money that in a just world they wouldn't have offshore and while I'm glad that this data has been leaked, I don't know why news organizations keep expecting yet another leak revealing that fact to change anything

Yossarian-22 posted:

Just like the Panama Papers this is a limited hangout. The most harm it does to Western interests is implicating the Azeri dictator in some stuff maybe

The Saucer Hovers posted:

better suited to gbs OP maybe you could move the thread there?

Comstar posted:

I have full confidence in the impact this will have on the worlds Billionaires.


Nothing.

Horseshoe theory posted:

It is pretty hilarious that Zelensky was going "Those EVIL oligarchs supporting Russia!" only to be engaging in the same chicanery as them. Love my political projection!

R. Guyovich posted:

you should follow it there to make sure it gets settled in properly.

Horseshoe theory posted:

It is pretty hilarious that Zelensky was going "Those EVIL oligarchs supporting Russia!" only to be engaging in the same chicanery as them. Love my political projection!

paul_soccer12 posted:

Horseshoe theory posted:

Bezos, TRUMP, Buffett, etc. getting economic stimulus payments because they have big bullshit Net Operating Losses from loss shelter companies wiping out millions of interest, dividends, capital gains, etc. so that they pay virtually no tax.