Friday, April 06, 2018

Neil Olesen: Tax Fraud and Money Laundering

Neil Olesen, Second Commissioner of Taxation, concedes some things could have been done differently, but in terms of digital services the ATO is “in not too bad a shape” How Digital Is Changing Australian Tax

Is insider Neil Olesen the ATO's new deputy commissioner? Back to the future 

Taxing time for bitcoin The Australian Likewise the sale of bitcoin or other currencies will be liable for capital gains tax (CGT)

 

AFP raid on Four Corners whistleblower …

 

Between Confirmation and Name Dates -  18 March 1766 - Tax Repealed


Well, as has been pointed out often, we rebelled against taxation with out representation. Maybe, beforehand, we should have looked into what taxation with representation was like 

FORD MOTOR COMPANY OF AUSTRALIA LTD Michael West News




A parliamentary committee will put the British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man and other tax havens under the microscope as part of a new inquiry.
 



Justice served in largest ever prosecuted tax fraud | Australian Taxation Office




Inquiry announced 27 March 2018

Treasury Sub-Committee inquiry into steps that HMRC has taken to address public concerns around tax avoidance and evasion






British MPs xamine role cdots tax avoidance and evasion 




UK Parliamentary inquiry into Economic CrimeThis inquiry will have two strands: one looking at the anti-money laundering and sanctions regime, and one considering economic crime as it affects consumers.”

Fifth Domain March 26, 2018
Finnish leaders saw an increase in the number of cyber attacks backed by hostile foreign state actors in 2017. Supo, Finland’s national security intelligence service, is warning of more aggressive attacks in the future, including those targeting infrastructure critical to national security and military installations.


On April 3, 2016, my colleagues hit publish on one of the biggest journalism collaborations and leaks the world has ever seen. Today, our reporter Will Fitzgibbon reflects on what we didn’t quite expect. (Font matters, is my highlight.)


We also speak with three journalists from distinct parts of the world about what it was like to be part of the remarkable investigation. Pakistan’s Umar Cheema says the investigation was for him a “tour through the underworld of the rich.” Our Panama-based partner Sol Lauría recalls interviewing Mossack Fonseca’s resolutely unapologetic co-founder Ramon Fonseca.
German journalist Bastian Obermayer, who, with his colleague Frederik Obermaier, shared the 11.4 million documents with ICIJ, said the biggest change has been that people are “aware now of the menace the anonymous offshore world poses.”
And a quick reminder, we’re always looking for the next Panama Papers. (Or even a smaller version of it.) If you’re unsure about sharing your story, or data, with ICIJ, here are just a few reasons why you should trust our team


CITIC RESOURCES AUSTRALIA PTY LTD


Michael West

There are now three years of tax transparency data published by the TaxOffice and we have used this data to work out which large companies operating in Australia have paid the least tax, or no tax. Notable players such as Google, eBay, Booking.com, Expedia are not near the top of the ATO list. That's because they don't ...



ATO chases wives of alleged crime figures Rock, Wally and Brownie ...

 
The Australian Taxation Office and the police have served summonses on the wives of Ahmad “Rock” Ahmad and his brothers Walid “Wally” Ahmad and Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad, alleging they owe about $2.75 million in taxes. The agencies are joining forces to target organised crime figures' finances through family ...
















The high council deliberates in me,
Thirty-one wise morons who can't agree
Without a nod from their presiding lord,
Who's typically obliviously bored.
The peasantry shout in at the windows,
The scholars and lawyers from the cheap seats.
The aides are soft and unprincipled cheats,
And women left the chambers long ago.
I think never has indecision been
So richly rewarded, as conscious sin
Is rationalized in the name of change.
A vote is taken, the benches arranged
Again to reflect the switch of leaders,
Which elevates sixteen bottom-feeders.




“When Bail Feels Less Like Freedom, More Like Extortion; As bail has grown into a $2 billion industry, bond agents have become the payday lenders of the criminal justice world, offering quick relief to desperate customers at high prices”: Jessica Silver-Greenberg and Shaila Dewan of The New York Times have this report.

This is an interesting article with some data and some extrapolations from the data. A high level overview of who cheats (at least certain segments of the tax cheat category) and why.  Evan Horowitz, Everyone Tries To Dodge The Tax Man, And It Keeps Getting Easier (FiveThirtyEight 3/19/18), here.


Article On UH Tax Fraud and Money Laundering Student

Amol Mehra, My law degree wasn’t meant for money laundering. But boy, it would make it easy(WAPO 3/29/18), here.
I didn’t pursue a law degree to learn how to launder money for human traffickers, opioid kingpins or corrupt public officials. But my legal training has helped me to understand just how easy it would be. 

Anonymous companies are ubiquitous in most money-laundering schemes, and in the allegations against Trump campaign associates Paul Manafort and Richard Gates. Shell companies are formed with no record of the true owners, and because they are so easy to set up — especially if you’re a lawyer — you can easily layer dozens of them to confuse investigators and hide dirty money. 

A Delaware-based LLC could own a Nevada-based C corporation, which could be owned by a Panamanian company, and on and on. That makes it nearly impossible for investigators to untangle these webs. In 2012, Cyrus Vance Jr., district attorney of New York County, said this about anonymous companies: “My office, time and time again, finds its criminal investigations thwarted by an absurd system of secrecy whereby criminals can hide their money.” 

* * * * 

Because anonymous shell companies are a factor in so many kinds of cases — hiding proceeds from the ongoing opioid crisis, funding terrorism, enabling corruption in the oil and gas industries — there is large and growing bipartisan support for a bill to collect ownership information on anonymous companies. Remarkably, it might pass. 

These reforms are backed by a broad coalition, made up of supporters including law enforcement agencies, progressive anti-poverty groups and large financial institutions. They advocate policies that would require companies to disclose their owners to the government. In turn, the government would share that information with law enforcement and institutions with anti-money-laundering requirements. 

Yet bizarrely, and regrettably, the American Bar Association opposes these reforms. Even more bizarre are the ABA’s arguments.
And so on.  Very thoughtful piece.

JAT Comment:  Of course, money laundering is a crime separate from tax evasion or related tax crimes, but the conduct which enables money laundering can also be deployed to enable tax crimes.


Today, I write to offer an article from WAPO on a former student, Drew Willey.  His Clients Weren’t Complaining. But the Judge Said This Lawyer Worked Too Hard (NYT 3/29/18), here.

Larry Campagna, here, and I taught the Tax Fraud and Money Laundering Course at UH Law School.  Basically, the course covered what I discuss on this Federal Tax Crimes Blog.  Drew was an outstanding student in the class of 2013.  Hence, I am not surprised that he is highly rated (see Avvo rating here).  I don't know if he works in the criminal tax area.  Based on what I know, if I had that type of problem in the Houston-Galveston area, he would be one I would want to talk with.  He certainly knows the subject from our course (he did very well).

Congratulations to Drew for fighting the good fight.  Drew's facebook page is here.