Message-ID: <8793114.1075857096598.JavaMail.evans@thyme> Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 03:47:00 -0800 (PST) From: a-letter@sovereignsociety.com To: andrew.h.lewis@enron.com Subject: MONEY LAUNDERING SCAM - A-LETTER 12-11-00 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-From: A-Letter@sovereignsociety.com X-To: Andrew.H.Lewis@enron.com X-cc: X-bcc: X-Folder: \Andrew_Lewis_Dec2000\Notes Folders\All documents X-Origin: Lewis-A X-FileName: alewis.nsf ==================================================================== THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER Your Link to Freedom, Privacy & Prosperity in the Offshore World Tuesday, December 12, 2000 - Vol. 2 No. 58 ==================================================================== In This Issue: * COMMENT: The Money Laundering Farce Must End - Insatiable FATF. Nauru's Billions. Swiss Reputation. ML Links. * OFFSHORE: Bahamas Bank Quits. Anti-OECD Group. BVI & Man Folding? Bermuda Independence Back Again. $$ The Offshore Money Manual - Don't Go Offshore Without It $$ * WEALTH: Tax News from US, Ireland, Russia, Gibraltar. Diamond Boom. $$ The World's Six Best Retirement Havens $$ * PRIVACY: U.K. Snoop Law Countered. Wired Privacy Link. Web Phones. ==================================================================== COMMENT: The Money Laundering Farce Must End by Bob Bauman, Editor. One of the major arguments of the world money police is the imagined need to stop "money laundering." They claim widespread abuse of banking and other financial systems by sinister criminal forces. Offering little proof, artful officials use their questionable premise to justify a supposed right to monitor and record all financial transactions. By design, banks and their employees have been forced into the unwanted role of spies and police deputies. In the only popular uprising against this arrogant attack on financial privacy, in 1999 protests from hundreds of thousands of irate Americans forced the US government to back down on so-called "Know Your Customer" rules. The KYC proposals would have made every American banker a government vetting agent, with a duty to investigate, watch for and report supposed "suspicious activity" of all account holders. (Since then the Clinton administration has pressed banks to adopt "voluntary" KYC rules in spite of these protests). From earliest history, unless restrained, governments always have used every available tool to spy on citizens. Until this trumped up money laundering scare the consensus in western democracies has been that personal freedom and privacy greatly outweighed prior restrictions aimed at potential criminal abuse. This established principle rightly forced police and prosecutors to build each individual case on legally gathered evidence rather than use the dragnet approach. But now prosecutors reverse this traditional right to privacy. Instead of a presumption of innocence, whole classes of people are viewed as potential criminals based solely on wealth and its free use. Subject to civil forfeiture, the accused are stripped of their assets and forced to prove their innocence. Are these drastic restrictions on financial freedom justified? Existing anti-ML efforts have proven very costly and highly ineffective. In the US in 1998, only 932 people were convicted of money laundering, yet the cost to the private and public sectors exceeded $10 billion, averaging more than $10 million per conviction. Based on several years statistics, a British law professor calculated that the UK government has stopped only 0.004% of the criminal money that flowed through the City of London. The professor concluded: "Money launderers do not have a statistically significant chance of being caught, hence the deterrent effect of such laws is negligible." The question must be asked: "When is this madness to stop?" No one should ever have to justify he right to keep their personal business private, except upon an individual indictment based on specific facts presented to a court of law. This financial dragnet must end. A continuing and expanded popular resistance holds the key to success. --------- INSATIABLE F.A.T.F DEMANDS PARIS. After varying appeasement efforts, the 15 "non-cooperative countries" that the Financial Action Task Force named to its "money laundering blacklist" in June are told they must do still more. LINK: http://www.moneylaundering.com/NewsArticleDec004.htm ---------- NAURU'S BILLION DOLLAR BUSINESS The New York Times claims that the remote Pacific island of Nauru has found a lucrative niche by learning the trade of money laundering. An interesting first hand account from the island itself. LINK: http://www.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20001210mag-moneylaundering.html ---------- SWISS REPUTATION AT STAKE? ZURICH. As we have often reported, Switzerland has tightened up standards relating to the assets of shady characters, concerned about its own national reputation. LINK: http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/articles.html?id=001114001476&query= offshore#docAnchor001114001476 ----------- SOURCES ON THE NET: * Money Laundering Alert - good resources and links around the world. LINK: http://www.moneylaundering.com/ * Money Laundering Compliance - for professionals in law, banking and financial services and enforcement agencies. LINK: http://www.countermoneylaundering.com/ * More LINKS: http://www.net-magic.net/users/jlafear/links.html ======================================================================== * OFFSHORE * BAHAMAS BANK EXODUS BEGINNING? NASSAU. The head of an offshore bank that lost its license to operate blamed Bahamas new, stricter laws for his decision to shut down and liquidate assets. LINK: http://www.herald.com/content/mon/business/internat/digdocs/038682.htm ---------- FIGHTING THE O.E.C.D. ANTI-TAX HAVEN ATTACK WASHINGTON, DC. The OECD is intent on stamping out "harmful tax competition," but an opposition voice is heard from the Center for Freedom and Prosperity. LINK: http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Articles_on_Tax_Competition/tni12-02-00/tn i12-02-00.shtml ----------- B.V.I. PLANS O.E.C.D. APPEASEMENT ROADS TOWN, BVI. The Finance Minister says the UK overseas territory will go along with London and OECD demands, beefing up anti-ML laws and allowing sharing of tax information with foreign governments. LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/html/oldnews/st_jbvindustry_11_12_00.htm ---------- MAN FINANCIAL PRIVACY UNDER FIRE DOUGLAS, I.O.M. Under investigation by Irish tax authorities, amid charges of Russian money laundering, the Isle of Man may compromise its financial privacy laws. LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/html/oldnews/st_celticleague_11_12_00.htm --------- BERMUDA INDEPENDENCE BOOST? HAMILTON. A leading advocate of Bermuda independence claims the government in London is pushing the island towards inevitable separation. LINK: http://www.bermudasun.bm/cgi-local/edpull.pl?cat=01News&ord=01&ed=2000-12-08 A very useful Web source - all the Online newspapers of the world: LINK: http://onlinenewspapers.com/ *****************ADVERTISEMENT********************* THE OFFSHORE MONEY MANUAL: All about offshore credit cards, IBCs, trusts, banking and lots more -- the "offshore book of the year" -- 360 pages with hundreds of names, contacts, insider stuff; the who, what, where and when of "offshore" -- information government does NOT want you to see. Private tips and tested techniques average investors will never discover; hundreds of offshore direct contacts with e-mail, phone & fax info. ORDER FROM OUR ONLINE BOOKSTORE at LINK: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/OMMD/OMMAL1/ Mail orders to: Sovereign Society, PO Box 1566, Newburgh, NY 12551. Tel: US (free) 888-358-8125. Fax: 888-892-1542. NonUS Tel: 353-51-844-068. E-mail: sovereignsociety@compuserve.com ========================================================== + WEALTH + I.R.S. STILL CHASING OFFSHORE TAX CHEATS After two years of reporting in this e-letter, the general "news" media finally is catching on to the IRS offshore tax evaders' story. Example at LINK: http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/body/0,1037,500288787-500457143-5030114 64-0,00.html ---------- ANTI-ML LAWS USED TO CATCH FOREIGN TAX EVADERS NEW YORK. A US district court says the government can forfeit bank accounts (in this case $15.3 million) located in US belonging to accused foreigners allegedly evading foreign taxes. For a related case, see US v TRAPILO, at LINK: http://laws.findlaw.com/2nd/971011.html ---------- U.K. CORRUPTION CRACK DOWN LONDON. As part of a general crackdown on business and international corruption, the UK will allow foreign governments to reclaim money stashed in British banks by corrupt leaders. LINK: http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT35CHMKMGC&liv ---------- IRISH TAXES ARE SMILING DUBLIN. When people think of Ireland, they usually think of leprechauns, shamrocks and big pints of Guinness, not favorable tax treatment. But Ireland is one of Europe's great tax havens. LINK: http://www.forbes.com/2000/11/17/1117lifestyle.html;$sessionid$24BFT1IAADEUHQF IAGWCFEY ---------- RUSSIAN FLAT TAX STARTS SOON MOSCOW. Starting Jan 1, 2001 Russian citizens will enjoy a flat 13% tax rate on income earned. Some are wondering if it is a genuine initiative to stimulate the economy or an attempt to lure suspicious citizens into the Russian tax net. LINK: http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20001207/396427.html ---------- GIBRALTAR ANOTHER OFFSHORE SUICIDE? Gibraltar is making noises about imposing new taxes to remove the highly attractive existing discrimination that favors non-residents. In a misguided quest to appease the OECD's phony demands the Rock could seriously damage its own financial future. LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/html/oldnews/st_jgioverhaul_11_12_00.htm ---------- A.I.B. BUYS SWISS BANK DUBLIN. As we reported, the Sovereign Society's offshore convenient bank account provider, ANGLO IRISH BANK, will buy a private bank in Geneva, a significant expansion of AIB's private banking and asset management operations. LINK: http://www.independent.ie/2000/341/b02c.shtml More about the Sovereign Society member's offshore convenient bank accounts at LINK: http://www.sovereignsociety.com/Convenient_Offshore_Bank_Accounts.html ---------- DIAMOND SALES BREAK RECORDS JOHANNESBURG, South Africa. Diamond sales are expected to break all records this year. Half year sales from De Beers, which has 2/3 of all diamond sales, were 44% higher at $3.5 billion. LINK: http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3OQTHZKGC&liv *************ADVERTISEMENT********************** RETIRE OVERSEAS Learn about the world's six best places to live or retire. Live like royalty on $14 a day. Own an exotic beachfront getaway for $35,000. Or romantic pied-a-terre for under $60,000. Enjoy fine restaurant dining for $7 per person. Employ a maid or gardener for $2 a day. Buy comprehensive health insurance for $20 per month. Get the details in your FREE report now http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/il/sovsoc4 ************************************************** ======================================================================= * PRIVACY * ENCRYPTION COUNTERS U.K. SNOOP LAW LONDON. In six months Britain begins requiring encryption users to surrender their keys to the government. But cryptographers have new software that makes enforcement impossible. LINK: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/15292.html Check out the software at LINK: http://www.m-o-o-t.org ---------- WIRED PRIVACY NEWS COLLECTION Your every electronic transaction - Internet e-mail, Web browsing, online purchases, may be under surveillance. Keep track of Carnivore, Echelon, and privacy news at Wired magazine's Web site, LINK: http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/ ---------- TELEPHONES ON THE WEB The Internet's most complete index of online phone books, with over 400 links to Yellow & White Pages, Business Directories, Email Addresses & Fax Listings from over 170 countries. LINK: http://www.teldir.com =============================================================== THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER: Bob Bauman, Editor. Send e-mail to: sovereignsociety@compuserve.com We welcome your comments. Don't want future mailings? Reply to this e-mail with "Remove" in the message subject line. SUBSCRIBE FREE or send A-Letter to a friend at: http://www.sovereignsociety.com/free.html Back issues at: http://www.sovereignsociety.com/a-letter/index.html ================================================================== THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY Ltd, 5 Catherine St, Waterford, Ireland TEL: 353-51 844 068 FAX: 353-51 304 561 MEMBERSHIP DUES: One year: US$195 / UKo119 JOIN at: http://www.sovereignsociety.com/Home/How_To_Join.html WEB SITE: http://www.sovereignsociety.com Copyright (c) 2000. All domestic & international rights reserved.