Foreign criminals are using the housing and art market

Cybercrime as a service rise

Ekaterina Juskowski was operating the camera as her model friend strolled down the beach, looking as smouldering as she possibly could. All of a sudden, a small boat appears at the shoreline and about nine men jump out, wade through the lq shallow water and scatter into the city, leaving the now empty boat bobbling in the water. “That’s a testament to how confident these organisations are — what we call transnational criminal organisations — who smuggle criminals and narcotics right onto the beach,” U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Frank Miller told The New Times

Foreign criminals drive up London house prices by laundering money into property 

Is it game over for money laundering in London’s property market?  

Foreign criminals are using the London housing market  to launder billions of pounds, pushing up house prices for domestic buyers, a senior police officer has warned.

Donald Toon, the director of economic crime at the National Crime Agency, spoke after a spike in receipts from a tax on homes bought up by companies, trusts and investment funds rather than individuals.
Such corporations, usually based in offshore tax havens, are sometimes used by buyers keen to hide ownership of assets from their own countries’ tax authorities. The secrecy they offer can equally be used to squirrel away ill-gotten gains.  Offshore Tax Havens

World's rich are turning London into capital of inequality and tax evasion'

Australians might think Chinese investors have pushed up property prices, but "we ain't seen nothing yet," according to Colonial First State Global Asset Management chief economist Stephen Halmarick who is tipping the liberalisation of China's capital markets will inflate asset prices acrosss the globe.  We ain't seen nothing yet': Chinese foreign investment in Australian property tipped to surge 

Chinese investment accounted for 12 percent of Australia's new ... in big cities like Sydney or Melbourne, more than any other foreign investor. Corrupt Chinese Government Officials Flee To Australia Amid Hesitation To Extradite Criminals

Sydney to be blessed with MONA Type Gallery 

Walmart's use of tax havens hurts small businesses    

New York Times, New Disclosure Rules for Shell Companies in New York Luxury Real Estate Sales:

• Seeking to increase transparency in the luxury real estate market, the de Blasio administration has imposed new disclosure requirements on shell companies buying or selling property in New York City.
  The changes will help remove a “veil of secrecy” surrounding high-end real estate sales by requiring that the names of all members of a shell company buying or selling property be disclosed to the city, the finance commissioner, Jacques Jiha, said
   

REMITTANCES EXPLAINED: How funds are transferred across borders, and why digital is poised to disrupt this century-old industry Business Insider

When the tax was first in operation in 2013/14, it raised £100m from 3,990 houses, with 80% of the revenue coming from two London boroughs - the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, it said BBC 

Noferi, Mark L. and Koulish, Robert, The Immigration Detention Risk Assessment (July 1, 2015). 29 Georgetown Immigration Law Journal 45 (2015). Available for download at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2635247

“In early 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) deployed nationwide a new automated risk assessment tool to help determine whether to detain or release noncitizens pending their deportation proceedings..."

Why the Economy Will Be Every Country’s Weapon of Choice CFR

US Tax Avoidance Trumps Greek Tax Evasion