The Atlantic: Tax Havens and the Manafort Indictment

Paul Manafort, the US president’s former campaign chairman, and a business partner have been indicted for laundering $75 million through shell companies and foreign bank accounts in Cyprus, Seychelles and elsewhere. “The indictment emerged from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” reports Krishnadev Calamur for the Atlantic. Countries wth minimal banking regulations and enforcement entice the wealthy from countries with higher tax rates to hide their funds and dodge taxes. The United States expects citizens with bank accounts more than $10,000 to report those accounts to the US Treasury and tax officials. The International Monetary Fund and other global groups including charities have developed lists of tax havens, but critics counter the lists are politicized. About 24 nations receive sizable amounts of foreign capital that cannot be justified by their economies or size. One estimate suggests that $7.6 trillion is stashed in tax havens around the world or about 8 percent of the world’s personal financial wealth. Another former adviser for the Trump campaign pled guilty to lying to federal investigators and is cooperating. The Mueller investigation, if it moves close to the Trump administration, could have impact on a number of global economic, political and security issues. – YaleGlobal