Today’s roundup concerns the use of intermediaries, (i.e. nominees), to conceal beneficial ownership in both the registration of airplanes and use of financial accounts.
- Bloomberg.com & Reuters write that the FAA is requiring the re-registration of U.S. aircraft to help identify an estimated 119,000 unaccounted for aircraft owners. While this measure will hopefully bolster homeland security, anyone wishing to register their plane with anonymity can still probably do so.
As set forth at the May 5th “Asset Search News Roundup”, those seeking anonymity can retain companies like Asset Managing Group Inc. Under current FAA rules such a company can facilitate aircraft registration for non-U.S. citizens by supplying them with a Delaware formed company and a nominee trustee. These two ingredients often make it easier to conceal an aircraft’s true beneficial ownership.
- Beneficial owners sometimes conceal assets in nominee financial accounts to circumvent bank customer identification rules. The New York prosecution occurring in U.S.A. v. Upham, 1:10-cr-01028, could be this very situation. A December 7th press release claims that Upham involves a tax fraud with nominee Swiss accounts and other cross-border elements. The alleged fact pattern in Upham is given at an indictment filed on October 28, 2010:
Click On The Image To Read The Indictment
Copyright 2010 Fred L. Abrams