From: tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 1996 09:57:04 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Offshore Banks and Asset Protection
Message-ID: <ad1c4cad210210045dc1@[205.199.118.202]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 8:57 PM 1/12/96, Rich Graves wrote:
>Every issue of The Economist (and I'm sure lots of other publications)
>has ads for this kind of thing.
>
>Anyone know a reference for ranking the "legitimacy" of these services
>and seminars? I'd assume that many of them are scams that will gladly
>take your money overseas, but you might never see it again.
>
>Probably follow up offline, because cpunk relevance is a bit tenuous.

I'll follow up on the list, because it's a topic of interest (or
curiousity) to several, and I favor writing for the list.

I looked into "asset protection" [see note below] using offshore banks
(Carribean, Channel Islands, Europe, etc.), and bought a couple of books on
this. And I subscribed to some Net newsletters. I'm not an expert, and have
not chosen (yet) to "protect" my assets by moving them offshore.

I think the assumption that most of the ads in the back of "The Economist"
are scams which will take your money is wrong. The banks will take your
money, but most probably will return it on demand. And the seminar
companies will in fact teach some things.

However, they may be "scams" in a gentle sense: they won't provide easy
solutions that many of us will feel fully comfortable with. By this I mean
that one is hit with dozens of competing claims, by reports that the IRS
and FinCen are infiltrating these banks, that treaty negotiations will soon
close these tax havens, and all sorts of stuff like this. Things which do
not inspire confidence. (In fact, the report that these
back-of-the-Economist ads are "scams" is perhaps part of this
disinformation/rumor campaign.)

Like a lot of things, it may all be clearer once one has actually gone
ahead and done something with these offshore banks. I don't personally know
anyone who has, which adds to my uncertainty.

[Note: Many advisors call their schemes "asset protection," rather than
"tax sheltering" (or "tax evasion"). The idea is to put assets beyond the
reach of tort judgments. For example, a doctor may fear the incredibly
large "deep pockets" lawsuits that American society encourages, so he
transfers a large fraction of his net worth to an offshore bank. He reports
income from these assets to the IRS, so he is not a tax evader, just
someone who has partially "judgment-proofed" himself (to use the term
Duncan and Sandy use). This is not illegal, currently. Lots of issues to
consider.]

--Tim May

We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, we know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839 - 1  | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."