Bowden
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Amazing article on the ways that the global financial system is set up to allow wealthy people to try and evade taxes.
Entire article at:
Billionaires Flee Havens as Trillions Pursued Offshore - Bloomberg
Billionaires Flee Havens as Trillions Pursued Offshore
By David de Jong & Robert LaFranco - Apr 29, 2013 9:40 AM ET
Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, Russias 14th-richest person, and his wife, Elena Rybolovleva, have been brawling for almost five years in at least seven countries over his $9.5 billion fortune.
In a divorce complaint originated in Geneva in 2008, Rybolovleva accused her husband of using a multitude of third- parties to create a network of offshore holding companies and trusts to place assets -- including about $500 million in art, $36 million in jewelry and an $80 million yacht -- beyond her reach.
The suits provide a window into the offshore structures and secrecy jurisdictions the worlds richest people use to manage, preserve and conceal their assets. According to Tax Justice Network, a U.K.-based organization that campaigns for transparency in the financial system, wealthy individuals were hiding as much as $32 trillion offshore at the end of 2010. Fewer than 100,000 people own $9.8 trillion of offshore assets, according to research compiled by former McKinsey & Co. economist James Henry.
For a lot of people, it's not just the objective of not paying taxes, Philip Marcovici, an independent Hong Kong-based tax lawyer and board member of Vaduz, Liechtenstein-based wealth adviser Kaiser Partner Group, said in a telephone interview. It's the objective of obtaining the human right to privacy and seeking confidentiality about their financial affairs.
More than 30 percent of the worlds 200 richest people, who have a $2.8 trillion collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, control part of their personal fortune through an offshore holding company or other domestic entity where the assets are held indirectly. These structures often hide assets from tax authorities or provide legal protection from government seizure and lawsuits.
Entire article at:
Billionaires Flee Havens as Trillions Pursued Offshore - Bloomberg
Billionaires Flee Havens as Trillions Pursued Offshore
By David de Jong & Robert LaFranco - Apr 29, 2013 9:40 AM ET
Billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, Russias 14th-richest person, and his wife, Elena Rybolovleva, have been brawling for almost five years in at least seven countries over his $9.5 billion fortune.
In a divorce complaint originated in Geneva in 2008, Rybolovleva accused her husband of using a multitude of third- parties to create a network of offshore holding companies and trusts to place assets -- including about $500 million in art, $36 million in jewelry and an $80 million yacht -- beyond her reach.
The suits provide a window into the offshore structures and secrecy jurisdictions the worlds richest people use to manage, preserve and conceal their assets. According to Tax Justice Network, a U.K.-based organization that campaigns for transparency in the financial system, wealthy individuals were hiding as much as $32 trillion offshore at the end of 2010. Fewer than 100,000 people own $9.8 trillion of offshore assets, according to research compiled by former McKinsey & Co. economist James Henry.
For a lot of people, it's not just the objective of not paying taxes, Philip Marcovici, an independent Hong Kong-based tax lawyer and board member of Vaduz, Liechtenstein-based wealth adviser Kaiser Partner Group, said in a telephone interview. It's the objective of obtaining the human right to privacy and seeking confidentiality about their financial affairs.
More than 30 percent of the worlds 200 richest people, who have a $2.8 trillion collective net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, control part of their personal fortune through an offshore holding company or other domestic entity where the assets are held indirectly. These structures often hide assets from tax authorities or provide legal protection from government seizure and lawsuits.
