Recent reports state that US Government agencies have asked officials in the Principality of Liechtenstein to disclose information on American citizens who own foundations domiciled there. Readers not in the legal or financial world may not be aware that a foundation, which has no shareholders or beneficial owners, is a favourite tool of individuals with "flight capital" that they are looking to hide from the taxman or law enforcement.
Now that the US is obviously beginning to move against Liechtenstein, one must assume that at least some capital flight will occur, ahead of any formal US actions. If you are a compliance officer at an international bank, you might want to alert your new accounts staff to forward to you any and all new clients, who speak English with American accents, but whose vehicles are corporations or foundations from offshore financial centres, especially brand-new companies. If they are presenting official cheques
drawn on Liechtenstein banks, the reason for their move becomes obvious.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.