Beneficial Owners Concealing Their Foreign Bank Accounts
U.S. persons can be obligated to disclose their beneficial ownership of foreign bank accounts in Schedule B, Part III of their individual tax returns and by filing a Form TDF90-22.1. Some U.S. persons however, still engage in schemes to conceal their foreign bank accounts, as occurred in the case described by my post "Bearer Shares & An Asset Search".
That particular case involved a divorcing spouse and his business partners who had hidden undeclared revenue by using money laundering along with bearer shares. As is demonstrated by the following diagram, (which is more fully explained at "Bearer Shares & An Asset Search"), the divorcing spouse had hidden his beneficial ownership of a Cayman Island bank account:
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It is perhaps because these kinds of schemes do actually occur, that the Financial Action Task Force promulgated Recommendation 5. Recommendation 5 counsels banks to verify the beneficial ownership of a customer's bank account. As "Fighting Financial Fraud at UK Banks" indicates, UK banks are required to identify beneficial owners, as mentioned by the Money Laundering Regulations 2007*. (See also Notice MLR8, Crown Copyright 2008, at page 18 §7.8). Bankers in Switzerland meanwhile, have their customers execute a declaration of beneficial ownership upon the opening of a bank account. This declaration is commonly referred to as a "Form A".
The tax fraud prosecution of Florida yacht broker Robert Moran mentioned in my May 25, 2009 Asset Search News Roundup, involved such a "Form A". According to page 2 of the Statement of Facts part of Mr. Moran's plea agreement, prosecutors had acquired Mr. Moran's "Form A". It apparently revealed that Mr. Moran was the beneficial owner of monies hidden in Swiss bank accounts. Mr. Moran had maintained his Swiss account in the name of a nominee-- the Panamanian corporation Winter Drive Investments S.A.
* The Money Laundering Regulations 2007, is reproduced under the terms of Crown Copyright Policy Guidance issued by HMSO.
Copyright 2009 Fred L. Abrams
