Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk

[metalman]

Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk

Technician in Liechtenstein Turns Over Names of Americans With Secret Bank Accounts

By BRIAN ROSS and RHONDA SCHWARTZ - ABC

July 15, 2008

Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme.

The bank clerk, Heinrich Kieber, has been branded a thief by the government of Liechtenstein for violating the country's bank secrecy laws.

He is now in hiding but scheduled to testify to the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Thursday via a video statement from a secret location, according to Congressional investigators.

Aides for committee chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) are scheduled to provide reporters with a background briefing later this morning in Washington on the committee's investigation of tax haven banks in Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Aides say the hearing will also focus on the role of the giant Swiss bank UBS and its alleged efforts to help wealthy Americans hide their money from the IRS through shell companies in Liechtenstein.

Liechtenstein's veil of secrecy was pierced five years ago when the disgruntled technician, Kieber, downloaded the names of foreign citizens connected to the secret accounts.

Kieber reportedly sold three CD's full of names and data to tax authorities to 12 countries including Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States.

Tax authorities in Italy published the full list of names.

In Germany, the disclosures led to the arrests of several prominent CEO's on charges that had evaded millions of dollars in taxes.

A former UBS private banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, has agreed to a plea deal and is reported to be cooperating with US authorities in bring charges against American citizens on tax evasion charges.

The Liechtenstein bank, LGT, is owned by the tiny country's ruling family led by Prince Hans-Adam II.

Kieber's Washington lawyer, Jack Blum, says Kieber should be considered a whistleblower and a hero, not a thief, for revealing how the super rich hid billions of dollars using the Liechtenstein bank.

The names of the US citizens are now in the hands of the IRS and Senate investigators.

Washington lawyers say a number of prominent citizens have been subpoenaed to testify but have already indicated they will refuse to testify, asserting their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

It is not yet clear whether Senator Levin will insist they appear in front of the committee anyway.

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bwah, ha ha, ha-ha, ha! funny on so many levels, where do i start?

[Spartacus]

Re: Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk

Why did they bother with secret accounts?

why not just get a new job title - call themselves "hedge fund manager" ?

[URL="http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5378080"]
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bwah, ha ha, ha-ha, ha! funny on so many levels, where do i start?

[marvenger]

Re: Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk

this from money.ninemsn.com.au today on possible Frank Lowy lichtenstien accounts, he's australia's second richest man....if you don't count murdoch

US probe into Lowy's offshore banking




A US Senate probe into the use of off-shore tax havens will examine the banking strategies used by Australia's second richest man Frank Lowy and his sons.
The US Senate Committee is investigating financial institutions in Liechtenstein and Switzerland.
Peter Lowy, who heads the US offshoot of his father's global shopping mall chain Westfield, was called to give evidence on Wednesday but a spokesman has told News Ltd he is unable to attend due to a long-standing business engagement.
He would be happy to give evidence before the committee at a future date, the spokesman said.
A lawyer has also released a statement saying "the Lowy family has done nothing improper".
The report does not suggest the Lowys have evaded any US tax but it details the activities of the Lowy family's use of a Lichtenstein financial institution, the LGT Bank.
The details appear to have emerged after a former employee of a Liechtenstein trust company provided tax authorities around the world with data on about 1400 people with accounts at the LGT Bank.
US law requires American residents to disclose any interest in a foreign trust.
Frank Lowy, a former Reserve Bank board director, is ranked by the BRW Rich List as being worth $6.3 billion is the major shareholder of Westfield.

[metalman]

Re: Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk

Frank Lowy, a former Reserve Bank board director, is ranked by the BRW Rich List as being worth $6.3 billion is the major shareholder of Westfield.

imagine my surprise.

[petertribo]

Re: Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk

This may not be a good time to be running a money laundering tax haven. Seems the G20 may make moves to clean up these operations. Must be disturbing to go to "work" every criminal day and wait for the newly ethical cops to come through the door:

LONDON April 3 -- One day after world leaders threatened tax havens with sanctions, a host of countries on a freshly published "list of shame" scrambled to get off it even as questions surfaced over China's maneuvers to exclude Hong Kong and Macau.

The Group of 20 industrialized and developing nations at an economic summit here Thursday agreed to end "an era of banking secrecy," rooting out hundreds of billions of dollars estimated to be hidden from tax authorities in offshore banks. Faced with the prospect of penalties making it harder for their companies to do business overseas, Austria pledged to comply "without delay." The Philippines swore to take "the necessary steps" and Monaco promised to be off the list by "by the end of the year."

A more defiant Switzerland and Luxembourg flatly denied that they were tax havens, but suggested a willingness to follow through on recent pledges for more transparency. Tax advocacy groups, however, called the list incomplete and flawed, pointing to the fact that some alleged tax havens found among the 20 major countries at the summit did not appear on the list.

Most notably, Hong Kong and Macau were not on the list. The Chinese, sources familiar with the negotiations said, refused to endorse the move against tax havens if those two Chinese financial centers were named as rogues. The Chinese cities failed to make the list while other similarly secretive financial hubs including Singapore were named. Friday, the Chinese vigorously defended that decision.

"China actively supports the international community's efforts to tighten financial regulation, crack down on tax evasion and international cooperation to prevent tax evasion," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told reporters in Beijing. But, he added, "it is groundless to label China's Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau as tax havens, to which China expresses firm opposition."

In addition, tax watchdog groups criticized a decision not to list the British banking enclaves of the Isle of Man and Jersey. The list was based in part on the number of countries that each alleged tax haven has signed international treaties with to share banking information. According to London-based Tax Research, the Isle of Man has signed only a few more treaties than the Cayman Islands, which made the list, and some of those treaties are with minor territories and countries, including the Faroe Islands, Iceland and Greenland.

"It really is an incomplete list," said Matti Kohonen, projects coordinator with the Tax Justice Network in Paris, who blamed "political tactics" for the omissions.

The list, published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a Paris-based group of wealthy nations, in coordination with the G-20, singled out four countries as the worst offenders: Costa Rica, Malaysia, the Philippines and Uruguay. Another 38 countries and territories, including the Cayman Islands, Panama, Bahamas and Liechtenstein, were listed as less serious offenders. [my bold]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

That Lichtenstein story was so wonderful. A true example of regulation by citizen.

My cold and cynical heart suggests that Criminal Tax Havens are an essential part of Globalization so the Elites can protect and hide their assets and then flee from the fleeced and bankrupted populace. A veritable flood of Financial Criminals joining the long list of Corrupt Potentates like Baby Doc and soon to flee Hamid Karzai. Stampede!

So, for the thieving Corporate Execs the problem becomes: where to run, where to hide? Or maybe stop looting and upgrade the Shredder?

[Diarmuid]

Re: Day of Reckoning? Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed by Bank Clerk

This may not be a good time to be running a money laundering tax haven. Seems the G20 may make moves to clean up these operations. Must be disturbing to go to "work" every criminal day and wait for the newly ethical cops to come through the door:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

That Lichtenstein story was so wonderful. A true example of regulation by citizen.

My cold and cynical heart suggests that Criminal Tax Havens are an essential part of Globalization so the Elites can protect and hide their assets and then flee from the fleeced and bankrupted populace. A veritable flood of Financial Criminals joining the long list of Corrupt Potentates like Baby Doc and soon to flee Hamid Karzai. Stampede!

So, for the thieving Corporate Execs the problem becomes: where to run, where to hide? Or maybe stop looting and upgrade the Shredder?

mmhh and ny cynical heart tells me this is for the low hanging fruit or the ones who are not cooperating fully in the fleecing - when I see a Rockerfella or such like on the list I might begin to be convinced otherwise