March 2005 Archives

The Blog is making me feel a little like I'm baring my soul. Collectively, the stuff I've published, over the years, is telling a story that I would have forgotten (parts of), had it not been for the pages that have been published with Dreamweaver and other tools.

Many times in my writing I make reference to Gambling, there's a reason for this, I love Casinos! My entire adult life I've been allured and entranced by exotic places. Even the best beach in the world, lays the best tan in the world, deserves the best night on the town in the world. Whether you like it or not, some of the most decadent, opulent, exciting and mentally stimulating places on the planet are Casinos, often times situated near an awesome beach - ie. Hardrock or Palms of Las Vegas, many times on the decks of a full party cruise ship, or best of all, like one of my own personal favorite Casino's, situated right on a world class beach.

Lately I've published some articles about scoundrels and offshore banking scams, global tax avoidance, stories from the darker side of the "offshore" topic. I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression, I'm not some kind of a watchdog, whistle blower, or offshore political/finance pundit, but I am however, someone who has a passion for the subject and topic of living a Sovereign Lifestyle, and to achieve this you need to understand offshore banking and global business, the good, bad, and ugly.

Last week I wrote about my feelings towards Augusto Pinochet, and my opinions of him and the people who assisted, in opening over 125 bank accounts, for which to abscond with money, off the backs of the Chilean citizens.

Pinochet, 89, ruled Chile following a 1973 military coup until 1990 and remained head of the country's armed forces until 1998. His regime killed or tortured thousands of Chileans. Riggs Bank admitted that Pinochet stashed more than $10 million in secret accounts between 1994 and 2002.

by Nick Mathiason -

The world's richest individuals have placed $11.5 trillion of assets in offshore havens, mainly as a tax avoidance measure. The shock new figure - 10 times Britain's GDP - is contained in the most authoritative study of the wealth held in offshore accounts ever conducted.

The study, by Tax Justice Network, a group of accountants and economists concerned at the escalating wealth held in offshore locations, shows that the world's high-net-worth individuals earn $860 billion each year from their assets.

ST JOHN'S, Antigua (AP) -- The Antiguan parliament passed a tax law that paves the way for residents to pay personal income taxes for the first time in nearly 30 years.

The United Progressive Party government said it was forced to reintroduce the tax to deal with the deficit left by the former Antigua Labour Party administration, which abolished income tax in 1976.

Former world chess champion Bobby Fischer (view image) flew out of Japan, en route to Iceland (where he's regarded as a celebrity), after Tokyo decided not to deport him to the United States where he faces prison.

So he plays a game of chess with someone 1992, from a country under sanctions by the USA, and for this they want to put him in prison for 10 years? Come on! This guy is an International legend for dethroning the Russians (20 years prior in 1972), at a game that they had dominated for decades - especially since he beat the Russian chess-master Boris Spassky, during the height of the cold-war.

According to an American Senate investigation, Augusto Pinochet, the former Chilean dictator, stowed away more than $13m in 125 banks, including such big names as Bank of America, Coutts, Riggs Bank and Citigroup.

Now here would be a good case scenario for the KYC (know your customer) laws, related to offshore banking. How could a banking professional claim that he didn't know that his client was the leader of a nation, accused of murdering it's citizens and using it's military to crush civil dissent. Perhaps he lied on his application and said he was a businessman? but why was he surrounded by the big entourage dressed in military garb? and why was he so paranoid about assassination?

Recently I've written several articles about the "Offshore Gambling Industry", and as I'm considering attending a major conference and expo in Montreal this June, I've decided to publish the following press release from River City Group, in it's entirety. If you'd like to meet me there, please don't hesitate to write, by using the comment entry form on the bottom of each article. Also, I highly recommend Sue Schneider and the great people at River City Group, if you need, or want to know more, about the Internet Gambling Industry.

The seventh annual Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Expo (GIGSE) is on tap to be the largest event of its kind ever held.

It's surprising how much detailed market information is produced, by leading market research companies, to quantify Internet Casinos and the offshore gambling industry. Many top-shelf law firms and representatives from the big accountancy firms, offer services to the businesses in the industry. Offshore gambling is in it's tenth year and has become a solid, acceptable and well respected means of making money.

The largest, and one of the oldest companies, to arise and thrive in the Internet Casino business, is operated by Israelis from the offshore jurisdiction of Gibraltar, featuring a Gaming license from the Caribbean Tax Haven of Antigua.

I read a new article today by Doug Casey, the International Speculator (as he's known), in which he talks about Swiss Bank accounts and how they used to be very popular for Americans, he goes on to lay down the truth about where the reality is now, with regard to offshore banking, asset protection, and the current state of affairs with Big Brother - USA.

This is the best article I've read on the topic in a long time, I'm envious of this man's knowledge and ability. Please read the paragraph I've excerpted and then follow the link to his article...

The headlines for this story were so cliche "Fugitive lured to U.S. for lunch" and naturally followed by a pun about no free lunch etc... but the story is serious, federal prosecutors say Frederick Gilliland, 53, defrauded investors of more than $8 million. He had been living in the Vancouver, B.C., area when he was arrested Saturday on his way to Kiniski's Reef Tavern in nearby Point Roberts, Whatcom County.

A new report published by Statistics Canada yesterday shows an increase in direct investment offshore to tax haven jurisdictions and a considerable decline in direct investment into United States and Great Britain.

The report goes on to say that of the $88 billion in assets invested in Offshore Financial Centers (OFC) that these investments were mainly concentrated in the financial sector, which alone accounted for $72 billion, including $53 billion in banking services.

Having lived and worked in Costa Rica in the offshore gambling Industry and since I was involved in the production and launch of the first Internet Sportsbook (1996) in the country of Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, or Dutch West Indies as I prefer to call the Island Nations of Curacao, Aruba and Bonaire, it's possible for me to believe how big offshore sports betting has grown.

In the beginning I was skeptical because I really didn't understand how mature offshore sports betting was before the Internet revolutionized the business but back in 1996 I witnessed a few small rooms, managed by a few bookmakers with less than 100 telephone operators handle over $75 Million in football bets during a Thanksgiving weekend. I was convinced there was a need for the Internet.

Today I'm going to make a shameless pitch to promote ExactPay Network. I can recommend ExactPay without a single reservation, as this is the best on-line banking product I've seen. Also, after several of my referrals came back and thanked me for introducing them to ExactPay, it's made me feel all the more confident that this company will be around for a long, long time.

The great thing about ExactPay is how simple it is to use and yet there's exceptional security and a very sophisticated system behind the attractive user interface. The ExactPay product may be more suitable for corporations but that just means that personal banking needs are more than met, plus the rates are competitive to anything similar. ExactPay makes offshore banking easy.

Yesterday's quote from Henry David Thoreau, relating to unjust laws, made me think about the Patriot Act. Here's an overview;

On October 26, 2001, President Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act (PATRIOT) into law. PATRIOT gave sweeping new powers to both domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies and eliminated the checks and balances that previously gave courts the opportunity to ensure that such powers were not abused. Most of these checks and balances were put into place after previous misuse of surveillance powers by these agencies were uncovered including the revelation in 1974 that the FBI and foreign intelligence agencies had spied on over 10,000 U.S. citizens, including Martin Luther King.

From LewRockwell.com with the kind permission of Thomas Andrew Olson -

"Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law."
~ Henry David Thoreau

Thoreau, of course, lived in a kinder, gentler time, when people still recognized the true source of human rights and freedoms, and were diligent in keeping them. Mr. Thoreau was a strong believer in civil disobedience as a means of changing unjust law; Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. could certainly attest to their own success using non-violent civil disobedience as a tool of political reform – but none of these gentlemen were trying to reform the tax laws. The State can tolerate, in relative degrees, large and well organized public protests, so long as said protests do not extend to the root means of the State's livelihood. That way lies revolution, of which there have been few that were successful.

Recently I met an interesting man and famous commodity trader named Jim Rogers. This morning he sent me this great editorial review by David Siegfried of one of his books called "Adventure Capitalist".

It's the ultimate road trip View image. Legendary investor Jim Rogers and his fiancée travel to 116 countries in a custom-built four-wheel-drive bright yellow Mercedes. Over three years, they make their way through war zones, are guarded by military convoys, observe a fifty-million-person pilgrimage, eat disgusting food, put the car on barges for transport between countries, and have their lives threatened at every turn. As well as describing his adventures, Rogers has plenty to say about the economies and roads he encounters on his journey. (Naturally, he's driven on the best roads and the worst.) With his keen financial acumen, he picks out those countries with the highest prospective economic success and which ones are headed for disaster. All in all, a wonderful trip.

Comparison of Four Models

Company law based on English Common Law is the most frequent model for the classic offshore jurisdictions, such as the BVI, the Bahamas, Hong Kong and Belize. Company law in this type of jurisdiction is typically modeled on the UK Companies Act 1948.

The Companies Act 1948 draws from 1844, 1855, 1862, 1897, 1900 and 1929 Acts and many concepts, such as the acceptance of nominee shareholders, are based on 19 th Century Acts. The Joint Stock Companies Act 1856 introduced the Memorandum and Articles of Association and provided for incorporation by registration.

To understand the history of Brasil is to begin to explain how things got the way they are now. Growing up in Canada I felt privileged to come from a pioneer family that settled to conqueror a resource rich land. Legends of the gold started the history but later wealth was derived from fishing and logging.

Before the end of the Industrial Age every type of millionaire was spawned in Canada and I knew many. I grew up with the son of the Premier and played with the richest and most powerful people of Western Canada, I came to understand the big fish in the small pond but not until I migrated to Australia and experienced the lifestyle of the rich and famous of the Gold Coast, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, and Melbourne.

Brasil is not an offshore haven but if you've ever wanted to become an expert escape artist and make yourself very difficult to be found while living a relatively normal life, this would be the place. I'm writing to you from Sao Paulo the second largest city (after Mexico city) in the world. I've visited Mexico city and number 3 largest Jakarta and while I enjoyed both and especially like Mexico neither of them can compare to Brasil, in my opinion.

To be sure, I'm not an escape artist and don't need to hide from anyone, plus can travel freely anywhere in the world with my Canadian Passport but my offshore legal counsel advises me that gaining Brasilian citizenship, which I've done, is an excellent step towards living a sovereign lifestyle. You see, the Brasilian Government has no extradition treaties with other countries, including United States and or Canada.

Charles Schmitt, 59, a United States citizen living in Hong Kong, was charged by Hong Kong police in June with stealing nearly US$1 million (HK$7.8 million) from the CSA Absolute Return Fund. Nearly US$200 million was invested in the fund, but up to US$50 million may never be recovered, partly because of losses related to the need to close out positions early.

Schmitt, who is free on bail, could face further charges and today appeared at Eastern Magistrates' Court but the case was adjourned until September 2 after prosecutors said they would need several more months to collect evidence against Schmitt, including investigations in the United States and Switzerland. Schmitt, a US citizen, is free on US$1 million bail and two US$200,000 secureties.