Financial Institutions

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My July 11th "Asset Search News Roundup" mentioned that U.S. prosecutors were investigating HSBC since some U.S. taxpayers were suspected of using foreign HSBC bank accounts to facilitate tax frauds.  Swiss prosecutors meanwhile, are separately investigating whether former HSBC employees Hervé Falciani and Georgina Mikhael had illegally accessed bank customer information at HSBC in…

Today’s "Asset Search News Roundup" examines the criminal investigation into HSBC and the SEC’s case against Kenneth Wayne McLeod’s estate:

  • "U.S. Widens Tax Inquiry Into HSBC" reports that prosecutors are "ramping up their criminal investigation" of HSBC after U.S. taxpayers allegedly used foreign HSBC accounts to hide undeclared assets. My April

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“If A Judge Can See Your Assets, He Can Seize Them“, mentioned that shell companies formed in Nevada, Wyoming or Delaware especially lacked transparency because in these states there are virtually no reporting requirements about company managers, shareholders, etc.

Some beneficial owners therefore anonymously establish Nevada, Wyoming, or Delaware shell companies and then…

A successful asset search often requires gathering financial intelligence.  One financial investigator sought financial intelligence by doing “trash pulls”.  This investigator did trash pulls at an attorney’s home to elicit intelligence about the attorney’s client.  During one of these trash pulls, an envelope bearing the name of a climate-controlled art storage facility was discovered.  This…

"How To Minimize Your Assets" published at a webpage belonging to Assetprotection.com, indicates that a judgment debtor can mitigate the risk of forced collection proceedings "[b]y becoming a smaller target".  The Assetprotection.com website is also replete with asset protection diagrams.  In cases that illicit proceeds are being hidden, some of these…

The IRS is concentrating on tax fraud schemes in which assets are concealed by cross-border elements.  A recent Reuters’ article and a Department of Justice press release discussed such tax frauds, which the IRS refers to as abusive offshore tax avoidance schemes.  To try to detect these schemes, the IRS has used methods ranging…

The website of Capital Asset, Inc. at www.bulletproofasset.com, claims that forming companies in Nevada, or Wyoming, or Delaware is preferable because: “Do you know that partnerships, corporations, LLCs in most states make you completely visible? If a judge can see your assets, he can seize them.”

Capital Asset, Inc. presumably recommends forming…

Concealing assets through yachts / aircraft and the 2010 Bank Secrecy Act / Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual are on the radar in this “Asset Search News Roundup”:

  • Beneficial owners sometimes fraudulently conceal their assets by secretly purchasing a valuable yacht or aircraft.  They may then establish a Delaware or other shell company and use a

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My article "Wachovia Bank & Its Bank Secrecy Act Issues" said that Ponzi scheme victims do not possess a cognizable claim against financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act.  Concurring and quoting me was Moneylaundering.com’s "Florida Court Unlikely to Find Wachovia, Mastercard Civilly Liable for Missing Ponzi Scheme":

 

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This "Asset Search News Roundup" concentrates on an alleged $45 million dollar tax fraud and the conviction of Mr. Dennis Hecker’s girlfriend, Christi Michele Rowan:

  • An April 15th press release explained that property developers Mauricio Cohen Assor and his son, Leon Cohen-Levy are accused of hiding $45 million from the IRS by using nominees to

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