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Thursday, March 31, 2016

New Zealand foreign trusts and the Unaoil scandal more chickens coming home to roost and they are big

Fairfax reporter Nick McKenzie explains in detail how source contacted him and why:
In that story, we alleged Unaoil had been used by the Australian firm as a middle man and was somehow connected to powerful officials and politicians in charge of large, tax-payer funded oil field projects.
Upon publication, this allegation was immediately dismissed, denied and denigrated as a work of fiction by Unaoil. In 2014, Unaoil’s patriarch, the urbane Iranian-born multi-millionaire Ata Ahsani, even swore on oath in the UK High Court that it was sheer nonsense to suggest Unaoil was some sort of a bribe-paying fixer for multinationals.
My mystery letter-writer, though, said they had been impressed by our 2013 story. They also hinted that we had not dug nearly deep enough.. .




  • The advertisment in French newspaper Le Figaro placed by an Australian journalist, using the words Monte Christo to alert a secret informant


 Australia emerges as the "dumping ground" for dirty money from Asia

#The Bribe Factory Day Two ( 2 )
##[See also Unaoil The Bribe Factory Day One (1)]


*NZG may well be wishing they’d not just ignored early warnings of the scandal to come, back in 2012. The chickens, in the form of 11,000 NZ foreign trusts, are simply going to keep coming home to roost now.  There is going to be a large and noisy mess.
Naked Capitalism, March 18, 2016

 Well, the next instalment of the large and noisy mess didn’t take very long to turn up. New Zealand Foreign Trusts, implicated last month in sleazy-looking machinations by Maltese Ministers, have now hit the big time as vehicles for corrupt international money flows.
This Wednesday, Fairfax Media and Huffington Post jointly broke the story of Unaoil. “The Company That Bribed the World”. From Fairfax outlet The Age:
A massive leak of confidential documents has for the first time exposed the true extent of corruption within the oil industry, implicating dozens of leading companies, bureaucrats and politicians in a sophisticated global web of bribery and graft.

 …on the MEthod of Operation:
The Unaoil emails don’t show corrupt third-world kleptocracies shaking down helpless Western corporations. They show the opposite: Unaoil, working for Western companies, is seen slowly corrupting foreign officials, starting off with small gifts and shopping sprees and eventually hooking them on major graft...
 How do New Zealand Foreign Trusts fit into this picture? Stuff.co.nz, another Fairfax Media outlet, has the dope:
A Fairfax Media investigation of Unaoil obtained a document which shows the “wiring diagram” for the network of Unaoil entities through which giant multi-national companies channelled bribes to corrupt officials in oil-producing countries including Iran, Iraq and Libya.
…
The wiring diagram appears to show Unaoil is owned by UNA Energy Group Holding of Singapore, and that in turn is owned by UnaEnergy Trustees based in Auckland.
But the Auckland company is just a link in the chain, and it is owned in turn by Fleetwood Trustees, based in the tax haven of St Kitts and Nevis.
The Auckland company has three directors, but two at least appear to be trusts specialists who make a living providing professional services to others.
…
The Auckland company’s only New Zealand-based director is Richard Gordon Wilson, who is an foreign trusts expert from Jackson Russell Lawyers, a Shortland Street law firm.
Wilson said: “UnaEnergy Trustees Limited is a trustee of a trust established for UNA Energy, and holds the shares in a holding company based in Singapore”.
“We just act on instructions from an outfit in Monaco which runs family offices for wealthy clients,” Wilson said.
That organisation was Rosemont, for which Jackson Russell sets up New Zealand trust arrangements.
“They are a very reputable organisation of English professionals,” Wilson said.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has been given new powers to scrutinise foreign investments for their impact on Australia’s national interest. It seems that the ATO will focus on Chinese state-owned enterprises. The chairman of China’s State Grid Corporation, Liu Zhenya, said at a press conference in Beijing on 30 March 2016 that his company expected to be treated the same way as other bidders for the New South Wales electricity network, Ausgrid. ATO to test national interest

Malawi: Farmers World 'secretly auctioned' to a tax haven  

CODA:
During the year 1866 only Crime and Punishment was being read, only it was being spoken about by fans of literature, who often complained about the stifling power of the novel and the painful impression it left which caused people with strong nerves to risk illness and forced those with weak nerves to give up reading it altogether.
A great novel is 150 years old this year, and readers are talking about it. Prufrock News has collected several links, and the curator, Micah Mattix writes about it for the WSJ. If you don’t have access to the WSJ, here’s a post he wrote on why every Christian should consider reading Dostoevsky’s classic

Speaking of punishment, Welcome to Iceland, Where Bad Bankers Go to Prison Bloomberg 

March 2016: Public records show Grigory Baevsky, a 47-year-old business associate of an old friend of Putin, sold or transferred the properties to three of the women Putin in London
March 1986: Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia, by Karen Dawisha courtesy of Taxjustice.net as they know which tax havens the money is buried in ...  
*Wendi Deng dating Vladimir Putin, Us Weekly claims?



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Can a Parrot Act As a Witness in Court?

“In this life that sometimes seems to be a vast, ill-defined landscape without signposts, amid all of the vanishing lines and the lost horizons, we hope to find reference points, to draw up some sort of land registry so as to shake the impression that we are navigating by chance. So we forge ties, we try to find stability in the chance encounters.”
~ Bathroom Quote

Congratulations to Lend Lease and Crown for getting pretty much everything they want (again) from the state government for James Packer's Barangaroo casino.  Congratulations in particular for keeping a straight face while claiming that any reduction in the massive open-plan gaming floor "would put the entire project at risk". Oh please. And hats off to the spinners, who somehow seem to avoid any images that may indicate just how dominant the casino will be on the Sydney skyline Barangaroo: House wins, again, as casino games government 
Serious Question: Can a Parrot Act As a Witness in Court? New York Magazine

Parrot testimony.  And a cat from Hamilton, New Zealand steals underwear.  And the polity that is Selma markets in everything horse underwear.  And “Simply getting hold of so many stage-ready sheep was an exceptionally difficult bit of opera casting…” 

Camus in America. He was attracted by the hospitality but repelled by the superficiality. “The secret to conversation here is to talk in order to say nothing” ... Just say nothing

Indigenous heritage consultants are demanding an urgent halt to construction of a section of Sydney's new light rail line, after one of the largest recent discoveries of indigenous artefacts in the city. About 20,000 artefacts have already been recovered, and heritage experts working at the site say there could be more than 50,000 at the area intended to be used to stable trams in Randwick.
But the site, near the corner of Alison Road and Doncaster Avenue, could be at risk. Transport for NSW has acknowledged the significance of the find but has not said if it would comply with the request to stop work on a transport project with tight time frames...

This happens only in Australia. Traffic came to a standstill when a cute koala wandered on the Wivenhoe-Somerset Road on Saturday. Travellers on both sides had to wait on the road until the marsupial got off the road safely. Queensland couple Mike and Lee-Anne Phipps posted the footage, dubbing it as “Only in Australia! Made our day” on Facebook. ...Only in Australia ...
It was a small gathering at the luxurious Guadalmina golfing resort in Marbella. The agenda was padded with plenty of golf and fine dining. They were there for a good time. But they were also there on business: a three-day brainstorm on share trading, "deal flow", money laundering, and how to make money from the first and second while avoiding being pinged for the third Busting the boiler room

In Hindsight, ‘American Psycho’ Looks Like Us New York Times

The Economist Who Brought You Thomas Piketty Sees Perfect Storm of Inequality Ahead New York Magazine

Man Rents VHS Tape. Doesn’t Return It. Ends Up in Handcuffs. New York Times

What futurists get wrong. The next frontier of intelligence might not be silicon-based. Machines might want to go back to biology... future 

War crimes” include grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict and in conflicts “not of an international character” listed in the Rome Statute, when they are committed as part of a plan or policy or on a large scale.

Huge fire engulfs high-rise apartments Ajman United Arab Emirates ...

Career Corner. Accounting Talent Demanding Everything Shy of the Moon, Your First Born (Caleb Newquist, Going Concern). “If I may speak for myself and many, many other people, I’d be “history” after a few days of being treated like family. The nagging questions, the guilt, the constant phone calls, the passive aggressive suggestions about marriage/kids/life direction/bad habits.”


U.S. Marshals Service Sending SWAT Teams Out to Arrest People for Unpaid Student Loans Free Thought Project Get the bit about a debt collector being presented as a prosecutor. Appalling
mystery bird links
A new study says elderly Americans aren’t working nearly enough Fiscal Times (furzy). By Cato, ‘natch
As New South Wales Premier Mike Baird feels the heat over an Electoral Commission finding that the state Liberal party breached the law through the dodgy donations which bankrolled its 2011 campaign, he’s starting to act a little odd. Labor’s Member for Strathfield, Jodi McKay, found herself on the receiving end of a theatrical tirade yesterday afternoon, which she quickly slammed on social media. McKay was trying to move a point of order in the Legislative Assembly. An unhappy Baird rounded on her, incongruously mocking the MP for her recent attempt to take Labor’s Deputy Leadership position. She was less than impressed with the response NSW Premier Mike Baird answers question from female MP with bizarre impression

Peter J. Reilly (Forbes), Sixth Circuit Looking To Protect Taxpayers From IRS Not IRS From Taxpayers

HMRC's £6m campaign used agency linked to tax haven 

Barangaroo changes recommended for approval Koruna aka Crown saga of socialising loses

When the Baird government sorts out what kinds of stadiums it wants to build, it should have no shortage of inspiration. At a cost of about $30,000 to the taxpayer, the bureaucrat in charge of running the state's stadium strategy recently joined top brass from the SCG Trust and the Trust's architects on a multi-city US and UK stadium tour. But the trip, which took in performances by Beyonce and Coldplay, the Super Bowl, a visit to Las Vegas and an English Premier League game, has angered the Labor opposition, which opposes the Baird government's stated plan to spend the bulk of $1.6 billion of stadium funding in the eastern suburbs. Nice gig: Mike Baird's stadium tsar lives it up at Super Bowl and Premier League



Mark Matthews, here, a prominent player in the tax crimes area has written this article:  Mark E. Matthews,  IRS Criminal Investigation: A National Asset Being Damaged, 150 Tax Notes 1319 (MAR. 14, 2016), here.  I highly recommend the article by a thoughtful practitioner who has been involved in enforcement and defense


The New York Law Journal has published this article of an interview of Acting AAG Caroline Ciraolo.  Jeremy H. Temkin, DOJ Tax Division Today: Interview With Acting Assistant Attorney General, 255 NYLJ No. 55 (3/23/16), here. 


Kasper, Matthias; Kogler, Christoph; Kirchler, Erich, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 2013. The present study addresses the question of how taxpayers' perceptions of government and tax authorities are influenced by media coverage.


Forty millionaires ask New York to raise taxes on wealthy in ‘1% plan for fairness’ Guardian.
Kolejka (queue) is a Polish board game based on life under communism.
The players line up their pawns in front of the shops without knowing which shop will have a delivery. Tension mounts as the product delivery cards are uncovered and it turns out that there will be enough product cards only for the lucky few standing closest to the door of a store. Since everyone wants to be first, the queue starts to push up against the door. To get ahead, the people in the queue use a range of queuing cards, such as “Mother carrying small child”, “This is not your place, sir”, or “Under-the-counter goods”. But they have to watch out for “Closed for stocktaking”, “Delivery error”, and for the black pawns – the speculators – standing in the queue. Only those players who make the best use of the queuing cards in their hand will come home with full shopping bags.
…In this realistic game you really have to be savvy to get the goods.
The game was initially developed by Poland’s Institute for National Remembrance to teach about life under communism but the game became an unexpected hit and has since been translated into English, French, Japanese and Russian among other languages.
The Russian government, however, is not amused and have banned the game
I imagine the Russians wouldn’t like Kremlin either
Addendum: A lot of Americans could use some reminders about price controls and socialism, fortunately you can download and print Kolejka in English here (scroll down)

Ethanol producer Manildra paid just $6.5 million company tax on $1.2 billion mandated sales 

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Unaoil carving up oil - links to Leighton: Fairfax and Huffington Post

In the last few years, the very idea of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is dredged up only as a final resort when the alternative options of deception, threat and bribery have all been exhausted.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/bribery.html
In the last few years, the very idea of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is dredged up only as a final resort when the alternative options of deception, threat and bribery have all been exhausted.
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/bribery.html
 In the last few years, the very idea of telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is dredged up only as a final resort when the alternative options of deception, threat and bribery have all been exhausted  ...
~Cynical Havelites who witnessed the making of laws and sausages at different corners of this surreal Kafkaesque world
Unaoil Threatened To Seek Injunction Before Publication Of Bribery Expose

Backed by US Department of Justice anti-corruption prosecutors, the UK National Crime Agency, the Australian Federal Police and the FBI have launched investigations in response to a Fairfax Media-Huffington Post expose of widespread graft and bribery. Unaoil Scandal Day 2 ... Peter Gregg

 Unaoil's business involves dozens of shell companies controlled by the Ahsanis in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, the Channel Islands and the Marshall Islands.
These companies sign agency or consultancy agreements with major oil and gas companies and set about winning contracts from state-owned oil corporations from Algeria to Turkmenistan. Winning a contract can take years, but the formula is simple. If Unaoil wins a contract for a client, it receives a percentage of the total contract amount as a fee. Unaoil will then pay its executives a success fee of their own. “Sub-agents” who have helped win the work also get a cut.
Despite operating in some of the world's most corrupt countries and in an industry where opaque payments and backroom deals are the norm, the Ahsanis maintain they have never once crossed the line. Their company gives its giant western clients local knowledge and services, nothing more.
But the leaked cache of hundreds of thousands of emails between the Ahsanis and Unaoil executives reveals a different story.  Who are the Ahsanis

"The letter arrived via snail mail, and it read like a page from a Le Carre spy thriller. If my newspaper and I wanted to expose a corporate bribery scandal involving the biggest names in the oil business, the anonymous sender wrote, I should place an advertisement in the real estate section of French newspaper Le Figaro in July 2015 ..."
The advertisment in French newspaper Le Figaro placed by an Australian journalist, using the words Monte Christo to alert a secret informant.


 *The offshore arm of Australian company Leighton Holdings paid millions of dollars in bribes to middlemen as part of an audacious strategy to influence Iraq’s deputy prime minister, oil minister and other senior officials, and win more than $1.3 billion of oilfield  contracts. Leighton’s 18-month campaign of corruption, bribery, fraud and money laundering is revealed in the biggest leak of documents in the oil industry’s history The Bribe Factory

 *Leightons Timeline

Australia’s business community awoke last week to the shocking headlines in Fairfax newspapers that Leighton Holdings and its subsidiaries stand accused of bribery and corruption in the acquisition of international contracts. And the stories continue, with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reporting today an enquiry in 1994 found former Leighton boss Wal King “not of good repute” The Conversation Story circa 2013
Mr Henry, a 20-year Leighton veteran, has also alleged that a number of Leighton executives had "suffered extreme stress and anxiety as a result of pressures to falsify or improve inaccurate reporting figures" Leighton probe (April 2015) 

So what is the Epilogue? Fairfax reporter Nick McKenzie explains in detail how source contacted him and why:
In that story, we alleged Unaoil had been used by the Australian firm as a middle man and was somehow connected to powerful officials and politicians in charge of large, tax-payer funded oil field projects.
Upon publication, this allegation was immediately dismissed, denied and denigrated as a work of fiction by Unaoil. In 2014, Unaoil’s patriarch, the urbane Iranian-born multi-millionaire Ata Ahsani, even swore on oath in the UK High Court that it was sheer nonsense to suggest Unaoil was some sort of a bribe-paying fixer for multinationals.
My mystery letter-writer, though, said they had been impressed by our 2013 story. They also hinted that we had not dug nearly deep enough.


Via Salon “World's biggest bribe scandal”: Report on oil corruption exposes how corporations help destabilize Middle East  

Mark Matthews, a prominent player in the tax crimes area has written this article:  Mark E. Matthews,  IRS Criminal Investigation: A National Asset Being Damaged, 150 Tax Notes 1319 (MAR. 14, 2016), PDF enclosed in this link. (http://www.capdale.com/files/17773_IRS%20Criminal%20Investigation%20A%20National%20Asset%20Being%20Damaged.pdf) In a context of bribery and corruption, some of the insights might be of wider interest from this thoughtful practitioner who has been involved in enforcement and defense.

Mark begins his piece with the critical role that IRS CI plays in the tax system:

CI is the only enforcement agency pursuing investigations of potential criminal violations of the IRC. There are two key aspects of its work from a tax enforcement perspective. First, unlike IRS civil audit activity, CI's cases are public. CI publicizes its cases to send a message far beyond the individual taxpayer being prosecuted -- to more than 300 million taxpayers. The message has two components: (1) the threat to those tempted to cheat that there is a great risk to tax evasion, and (2) the assurance to those paying their fair share that they are not chumps and that those not paying it are not getting a free pass, or are at least risking their liberty. Second, the prospect of incarceration is a principal motivator to those tempted to cheat. If the only sanction for tax violations were civil penalties, many more would play the audit lottery more aggressively, especially as congressional budgets drive the audit rate lower each year. Yet even the slight prospect of a loss of liberty in one of our federal correctional institutions causes many to focus when they sign the perjury jurat on their returns. 
CI is the most dramatic example of the concept of general deterrence. Tax offenses are the one federal felony that every American confronts each year. We are not all tempted to sell drugs; we are not all in the securities industry or in a position to commit an environmental crime. But we all file returns. Therefore, the IRS must maintain a strong compliance message for the country's 300 million taxpayers, and it has -- in recent history, with as few as 1,500 criminal tax prosecutions each year. Even that low number, however, is dropping. That is far below the number of narcotics prosecutions brought by the federal government in attempting to deter a far smaller group of potential violators. Hence, CI needs publicity to achieve even a minimum enforcement presence. 
The CI chief, Richard Weber, recently made the same point in a conversation with the author: "Taxpayers voluntarily comply because they know it is the right thing to do, but they also want those who cheat the government to be held accountable. They want a level playing field. When they see that criminals get away with not paying their fair share, there is a direct impact on the voluntary compliance rate and the confidence in our entire system begins to erode. IRS-CI restores that confidence by ensuring that we all play by the same rules."

*Make elites compete: Why the 1% earn so much and what to do about it Brookings

Russia considering sanctions against UK for facilitating tax evasion through Caribbean territories

Dirty money centre? Hong Kong in money laundering spotlight as suspected Russian drug lord and his former model lover probed South China Morning Post

Madoff Aides Ask For Conviction To Be Overturned Because Prosecutor Made A Movie Reference Dealbreaker ... You just cannot make this stuff up  even with Kafkaesque imagination
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Wednesday, March 30, 2016

The Good Samaritan Tax Lawyer

The odds of all your Slavic ancestors being conceived, plus you being conceived (and beating out million of other sperm, as did all your ancestors) – trumps all the other examples I’ve seen but many, many magnitudes.
You can even throw in being born in a rich country, loving parents, etc. (if applicable) if you want to send the improbability even higher.
~ Bathroom Quote

Scientists Slowly Reintroducing Small Group Of Normal, Well-Adjusted Humans Into Society The Onion
One of Australia's most prestigious commercial law firms did not report to police an allegation that a former Melbourne office manager raped a legal clerk. Senior staff at Arnold Bloch Leibler were said to have been made aware of the sexual assault allegation in 2001 and notified its insurance company Leibler Tax Law firm did not report rape accusation to police
What does the Bible say about taxes? 

A buddy of mine posted this on Facebook:
I was getting a tire replaced this morning at the Firestone in [omitted] and one of the customers was on a conference call on his phone. He was wearing big headphones, so we couldn't hear the folks he was on call with, but he was speaking loudly so I got the gist of the meeting: a merger between two companies, his and someone else's. I heard him say some really odd things that seemed to make no sense but I am no business dude, for all I know the non-sequiturs that flowed from his tongue mean something in the merger world...but they were odd...for the most part I zoned him out, then he said this...
"we don't want to run so fast that we drop the potatoes between the grate."
I get that he's basically saying let's be cautious and steady...but couldn't he have just said that? I lol'd...and he turned down the volume on his voice after that.
I can't wait to use this at the next staff meeting.
Like my friend, I love that expression. But I desperately want him to tell me the name of the company in question. After all, I discuss this very hypothetical in my book Insider Trading Law and Policy
 ... the way we could make some fast and perfectly legal money.
A law school insider trading hypothetical comes to life

12th International Conference on Tax Administration, Sydney, Coogee, NSW, Australia
 Thursday 31 March - Friday 1 April 2016
 
Soon after joining the ATO, Jordan sent a note to staff that read: "Starting a new job is a bit like setting out on a new trek. It's not until you are really there that you appreciate what you've gotten into and what marvels you will have to enjoy and the obstacles you might have to deal with ..."

Chris Jordan has trekked and rafted through the rough jungles of Bolivia. But when the former cop and KPMG partner was appointed to the top job at the Australian Taxation Office in January 2013, he faced a tougher climb.
I wanted to do things quicker but a lot of things made it sticky in a way; you couldn't get on and do things. 
~Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan
The nation's 12th Tax Commissioner has had to navigate a tricky terrain of political inquiries, multinational tax dodgers, small-business disputes, internal battles with staff and the ATO's digital systems collapsing Taxman Chris Jordan makes his mark

Let's not kid ourselves, we take money from people and sometimes people don't like that No fresh set of eyes for small business advisers say



The Australian Tax Office/Tax Profession Partnership: Lessons from a Pilot Interview Program
Justin H. Dabner, James Cook University, December 24, 2015. The hierarchy of the Australian Tax Office (“ATO”) presents a picture of the ATO being in a partnership with the tax profession. Such a model is in contrast to the traditional Common Law adversarial model and questions arise as to whether such a relationship is workable.


SINCE 1953, “MULTINATIONALS HAVE PAID LITTLE OR NO TAX”
(ATO CANBERRA – JIM KILLALY, ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER, AUSTRALIAN TAX OFFICE – Sydney Morning Herald, 28.10.1996) Quote by Jim Killaly

Jim Killaly first joined the Tax Office in 1970, and was appointed Deputy Commissioner in charge of international tax and large business in 1997. He previously held the position of First Assistant Commissioner in charge of international tax. He has extensive involvement in policy development Jim Killaly  
TRANSFER PRICING COMPLIANCE ISSUES AND INSIGHTS IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBAL PROFIT ALLOCATION





 IRS Referral Programs: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Controls and Increase Coordination across Overlapping Programs, GAO-16-155: Published: Feb 23, 2016. Publicly Released: Mar 24, 2016.

Jim Burklo (Associate Dean of Religious Life, USC), The Good Samaritan Tax Lawyer: The Blessing of Taxes:
A lawyer whose specialty was tax avoidance for rich clients and corporations stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
TRAC/IRS, IRS Auditing of Big Corporations Plummets: Potential Annual Revenue Loss $15 Billion: Very timely enforcement information obtained from the Internal Revenue Service show that total revenue agent audit hours aimed at larger corporations — those with $250 million or more in assets — dropped by more than one third (34%) from FY 2010 to FY 2015

TAXING POWERS FOR THE STATES AND TERRITORIES?
The Prime Minister has advised that in Canberra on Friday, 1 April 2016, he will meet with Premiers and Territory Chief Ministers to discuss the Federal Government's plan to fund services in the years ahead. PM's Statement on Federation [Click here to open this document] , 30 March 2016

puppy and cat links

No one had a bigger impact on the development of my political views than did Russell Kirk, whom I never had the privilege of meeting, but whose written work had a profound impact on my thinking. (Of course, Michael Novak and John Paul II rank pretty high on the list as well.)
Back in 2010, I quoted Kirk on populism:
Populism is a revolt against the Smart Guys. I am very ready to confess that the present Smart Guys, as represented by the dominant mentality of the Academy and of what the Bergers call the Knowledge Class today, are insufficiently endowed with right reason and moral imagination. But it would not be an improvement to supplant them by persons of thoroughgoing ignorance and incompetence.
For obvious reasons, watching this political season has prompted me to spend a lot of time thinking about populism. It seems to me that today's Smart Guys--on both sides of the aisle--are far worse than the predecessors about whom Kirk wrote back in 1988. These days "ignorance and incompetence" might be an improvement.

Khaled Abou El Fadl was just recognized in the 2016 List of the World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims. The list names about 100 scholars worldwide, however within the United States, they only named six scholars, of whom Khaled was one.  Take a look at  http://themuslim500.com/
Dan Bussel has been named 2016 Bankruptcy Lawyer of the Year by the Century City Bar Association, one of five “Lawyers of the Year” awards presented by the Century City Bar Association in five practice areas.  For more information,  http://www.centurycitybar.com/events/Banquet%202016/CCBA%20Press%20Release%20Banquet%202016.pdf
Luz Herrera’s inspiring story was just featured in a lengthy  piece on Counterpunch: "From Tijuana to Harvard to Compton to UCLA Law: the Journey of Social Justice Lawyer Luz Herrera.”  Read it at http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/03/02/from-tijuana-to-harvard-to-compton-to-ucla-law-the-journey-of-social-justice-lawyer-luz-herrera/
Neil Netanel has just published From Maimonides to Microsoft: The Jewish Law of Copyright Since the Birth of Print . As Professor Michael Birnhack states in his review, From Maimonides to Microsoft is a masterful, rigorous exploration of Jewish copyright law. Netanel weaves past and present, history and theory, into an intricate socio-legal fabric, as he unearths the making of rabbinic copyright law.” https://global.oup.com/academic/product/from-maimonides-to-microsoft-9780195371994?cc=us&lang=en&
Angela Riley was just honored as one of the 2016 Women Inspiring Change by the Harvard Law International Women’s Day Exhibit Committee. This Exhibit showcases the astounding contributions of women around the world to the areas of law and policy.   Read about it at https://orgs.law.harvard.edu/womeninspiringchange/2016-honorees/angela-riley/

Singapore Leekuanyew corporation 1974


Drivers behind insolvencies of 2015 – they didn’t happen overnight
Veda, 23 March 2016. The number of insolvencies in Australia rose 13 per cent year-on-year in 2015, according to findings released today by Veda, the data analytics company and leading provider of credit information and analysis in Australia and New Zealand.
 
10 housing markets where first-time buyers have no chance Business Insider 

Why we should fear a cashless world Guardian

‘Uber for private jets’ on-demand service launched Telegraph

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