April 2006 Archives

Books whose characters hide money in secret foreign accounts have another reason to be called fiction. The only way to do that anymore is by risking the chance of a huge penalty for a mere failure to tell good old Uncle Sammy where the money is hidden, and what the account number is.

In 1970, the U.S. government passed the Bank Secrecy Act which (among many other things) required U.S. citizens and residents to file a report that gives the location and account number of all foreign financial accounts held by or for U.S. persons. The Act introduced severe penalties for a willful failure to disclose the existence of any foreign accounts but proving that a failure to report such accounts is willful is difficult and only a few people were assessed penalties.

EMERY P. DALESIO - Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. - A couple accused of running an offshore tax-fraud scheme from the Bahamas with the help of a former head of the state Republican Party should be held without bond until trial, a judge ordered Monday.

Federal prosecutors asked Judge W. Earl Britt to keep Howell and Vernice Woltz in jail because they have significant undeclared assets and have moved their primary home to the Bahamas. They are also key figures in a separate international money-laundering case, prosecutors said.

Offshore Business Magazine (OBm), headquartered in Manila, is a leading FREE online publication, providing news and articels within offshore business sectors like: Law, Tax, Offshore Corporations, Trusts, Banking, Insurance, Foreign Investment, Funds, Wealth Management, Brokerage, Licensing, Factoring, Yacht/Ship Registration, Financial Advisory Services, Audit, Real Estate, Intellectual Property and Debt Collecting.

Selecting the right bank to enhance investments, privacy and financial security

By Jonathan Curshen -

As we move closer to a global economy, there is a trend among smaller, less economically developed countries to follow Switzerland’s lead to legislate measures to attract foreign investment money to their economy. As a result new financial opportunities are opening to those who are willing to take advantage of them.

It's more than 2,000 miles away from Las Vegas or Atlantic City, but if you place a bet on the Internet, odds are it will end up being processed in Costa Rica.

There, on the night of the NCAA basketball championship game, the bets were pouring in to BETonSPORTS.com.

The Isle of Man has both maintained and improved its competitiveness and currently stands as one of the world’s leading jurisdictions for e-business, according to a recently published report.

The findings of the report by Charteris, the IT consulting firm, were announced by the Isle of Man government last week, and according to the company, the Isle of Man has been "very successful in maintaining a strong and steady marketing position on e-business compared with its jurisdictional competitors".

By Jonathan Curshen -

The annual Asian Offshore Association Conference was held in Hong Kong last September. It’s one of the largest conferences for international asset protection specialists of its kind in Asia. I have spoken at many conferences in the past, but this time I just got to relax and listen.

Immediately after, I flew to the annual International Bar Association conference in Prague, Czech Republic. During both conferences, I was surrounded by other asset protection specialists and professionals in similar fields.