Panama Papers: Could taxpayers demand restitution invested in economic development on the border?

[emilynghiem]

QUESTION: Given the mass corruption and corporate abuses exposed by the Panama Papers, could taxpayers demand that the debts and restitution owed for tax evasion be specifically paid back into economic solutions to the immigration and trafficking crisis?

How do we know the money owed to govt wouldn't be used for more war spending or corporate welfare?

What if we, the taxpayers, made lists of what shortfalls in the budget we want to pay for with credits owed to taxpayers from corporate fraud.

Could we reform the VA hospitals and build more military teaching hospitals, prisons and production jobs along the border to combat drug and human trafficking?

If we don't all agree what we want to fund, the govt will just keep spending it on contorted budgets there are able to pass by kowtowing to more of the same corporate interests and lobbying.

What if citizens called for a consortium of political and economic advisers from each Party and each State, and worked out business plans we could agree to petition Govt leaders and Candidates for Office to endorse? Couldn't each State fund its own health care, without adding to the tax burden, with the billions of dollars spent on crime and incarceration that could be reduced if mental and criminal illness, abuse and addiction, were prevented by more effective early diagnosis and treatment as diseases?

Think of the plans that Sanders and Trump might coordinate for workers and businesses to rebuild the economy and stabilize the border.

What if Clinton and Carson could consult with experts in criminal justice on research studies to develop effective methods of medical diagnosis and treatment of mental and criminal behaviorial disorders, to stop the corporate profits off the mental health and prison systems and invest those resources in public health and internships to train more service providers?

Which representatives or leaders would you contact first?
Couldn't we create jobs for ALL the candidates running for the same offices, and get more work done if we employed ideas and leaders from ALL parties, focused on their best areas of expertise and solutions?

 

[WildBillKelsoe]

If crimes were committed, yes.

 

[2aguy]

QUESTION: Given the mass corruption and corporate abuses exposed by the Panama Papers, could taxpayers demand that the debts and restitution owed for tax evasion be specifically paid back into economic solutions to the immigration and trafficking crisis?

How do we know the money owed to govt wouldn't be used for more war spending or corporate welfare?

What if we, the taxpayers, made lists of what shortfalls in the budget we want to pay for with credits owed to taxpayers from corporate fraud.

Could we reform the VA hospitals and build more military teaching hospitals, prisons and production jobs along the border to combat drug and human trafficking?

If we don't all agree what we want to fund, the govt will just keep spending it on contorted budgets there are able to pass by kowtowing to more of the same corporate interests and lobbying.

What if citizens called for a consortium of political and economic advisers from each Party and each State, and worked out business plans we could agree to petition Govt leaders and Candidates for Office to endorse? Couldn't each State fund its own health care, without adding to the tax burden, with the billions of dollars spent on crime and incarceration that could be reduced if mental and criminal illness, abuse and addiction, were prevented by more effective early diagnosis and treatment as diseases?

Think of the plans that Sanders and Trump might coordinate for workers and businesses to rebuild the economy and stabilize the border.

What if Clinton and Carson could consult with experts in criminal justice on research studies to develop effective methods of medical diagnosis and treatment of mental and criminal behaviorial disorders, to stop the corporate profits off the mental health and prison systems and invest those resources in public health and internships to train more service providers?

Which representatives or leaders would you contact first?
Couldn't we create jobs for ALL the candidates running for the same offices, and get more work done if we employed ideas and leaders from ALL parties, focused on their best areas of expertise and solutions?

Were actual crimes committed by Americans? I have yet to hear that that is the case. Can you show where laws were broken?

 

[emilynghiem]

QUESTION: Given the mass corruption and corporate abuses exposed by the Panama Papers, could taxpayers demand that the debts and restitution owed for tax evasion be specifically paid back into economic solutions to the immigration and trafficking crisis?

How do we know the money owed to govt wouldn't be used for more war spending or corporate welfare?

What if we, the taxpayers, made lists of what shortfalls in the budget we want to pay for with credits owed to taxpayers from corporate fraud.

Could we reform the VA hospitals and build more military teaching hospitals, prisons and production jobs along the border to combat drug and human trafficking?

If we don't all agree what we want to fund, the govt will just keep spending it on contorted budgets there are able to pass by kowtowing to more of the same corporate interests and lobbying.

What if citizens called for a consortium of political and economic advisers from each Party and each State, and worked out business plans we could agree to petition Govt leaders and Candidates for Office to endorse? Couldn't each State fund its own health care, without adding to the tax burden, with the billions of dollars spent on crime and incarceration that could be reduced if mental and criminal illness, abuse and addiction, were prevented by more effective early diagnosis and treatment as diseases?

Think of the plans that Sanders and Trump might coordinate for workers and businesses to rebuild the economy and stabilize the border.

What if Clinton and Carson could consult with experts in criminal justice on research studies to develop effective methods of medical diagnosis and treatment of mental and criminal behaviorial disorders, to stop the corporate profits off the mental health and prison systems and invest those resources in public health and internships to train more service providers?

Which representatives or leaders would you contact first?
Couldn't we create jobs for ALL the candidates running for the same offices, and get more work done if we employed ideas and leaders from ALL parties, focused on their best areas of expertise and solutions?

Were actual crimes committed by Americans? I have yet to hear that that is the case. Can you show where laws were broken?

That can be brought up, as well as cases as crime/fraud/corruption that HAVEN'T been pursued for reimbursement.
I also don't believe that just because companies didn't pay taxes, they would necessarily agree to do so under the terms that would call for that.
It could be the only reason they agreed to do business was the methods of reducing taxes was BUILT IN to the plans.
So if that is disallowed, the companies would not agree to do business at all, but would find other ways, including operating outside the US to begin with.

It could be.

If so, why not call out ALL cases of corporate corruption where taxpayers believe money, reimbursement, credit or other restitution is owed?

Examples:
1. the Solyndra case (500 million) and other corporate and Wall Street bailouts contested by taxpayers
2. 1.6 billion cost to taxpayers for bailing out MAXXAM that later went bankrupt (after destroying millions of acres of pristine Redwood wilderness, endangered wildlife and ecosystems)
3. the damage to environment and businesses by the BP and Valdez oil spills
4. contested no-bid war contracts under the Bush administration (total war spending contested by opponents to the war as unconstitutionally declared is over 30 trillion)
5. est. 24 billion cost to taxpayers of the federal shutdown over the ACA bill and budget still contested as unconstitutional
(and trillions paid in advance to insurance companies as part of the agreement with the President that taxpayers never got to vote on)
6. Also, check out what 200 Mil looks like:
Raid on Mexican Drug Dealer's House
in drug money seized in a raid on a Mexican house run by a Chinese drug lord

Using provisions in the RICO laws against organized crime and racketeering, property seized that was abused to traffic drugs or humans (especially children) can be claimed as restitution by the victims including the community affected.

Why not set up legal teams to collect on behalf of taxpayers, communities and victims affected by trafficking and other organized crime, abusing houses to run their rings?

As long as profit is made off crime, what motivation is there to really stop it?

But if communities, taxpayers and individual crime victims start reclaiming restitution for each and every instance, either the govt would go bankrupt if it is unable to stop crime, the people would start amassing and keeping more of our resources otherwise lost to crime and corruption, or the abuses would stop if all the criminals are too busy working off restitution owed and this is invested in creating sustainable community, business and educational development in every district to PREVENT poverty from escalating into crime, especially related to drug abuse and addiction that could be wiped out similar to how polio and other diseases have been all but eradicated by effective campaigns focused on this goal.

 

[waltky]

Looking into the hacking aspect of it - not the legality of it...

Investigators visit Panama Papers law firm's office
Apr 11,`16 -- Panamanian prosecutors visited the offices of the Mossack Fonseca law firm Monday to look into its allegations that a computer hacker was behind the leak of a trove of financial documents about tax havens the firm set up to benefit influential people around the globe.

Public ministry spokeswoman Sandra Sotillo said the visit to the offices of Mossack Fonseca was made by investigators from the intellectual property prosecutor's office. The firm filed a complaint charging the security breach shortly before media reports appeared last week using the documents to detail how politicians, celebrities and companies around the globe were hiding assets in offshore bank accounts and anonymous shell companies. "Finally the real criminals are being investigated," firm co-founder Ramon Fonseca said in a message to The Associated Press.

Fonseca has maintained that the only crime which can be taken from the leak was the computer hack itself. He has said he suspects the hack originated outside Panama, possibly in Europe, but has not given any details. Panama's government has said it will cooperate with any judicial investigation arising from the documents.

Some critics of the government have called for a rapid investigation of the law firm, which is one of the most important in the world for creating overseas front companies. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela has defended the country's financial sector, which is considered of strategic importance for the economy. But Varela has also promised the international community that he is willing to make reforms to make the sector more transparent.

News from The Associated Press

 

[waltky]

Art work stolen by Nazi's from Jewish art dealer in WWII...

'Panama Papers' offer clues on $25 million Modigliani art taken by Nazis
April 12, 2016 - The painting was believed to be confiscated from its owner by the Nazi government.

Swiss investigators launched a probe into the ownership of a $25 million Amedeo Modigliani painting after the release of the Panama Papers revealed the artwork may have been stolen by Nazis. At issue is the title to Seated Man with a Cane, painted in 1918 by the modern Italian artist. International art Center owns the work and the leaked documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca indicate David Nahmad, a Monaco resident and member of a billionaire art-collecting family, owns the company.

The painting, valued by some appraisers at $25 million, was owned by Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner, his family says, and was believed to have been confiscated during World War II by the Nazi government when Stettiner escaped Paris in 1939. He died before he could recover the painting. Since 2011 the Stettiner family has attempted to recover the painting through U.S. courts. The painting is in a Geneva Freeports warehouse for artworks and other collectibles. It was sequestered by police last week, meaning it cannot leave its current location.

Modigliani's Seated Man with a Cane​

Henri Della Casa, spokesman for the Geneva prosecutor's office, said a "criminal procedure" was underway, "within the framework of the revelations linked to the Panama Papers." "This is a major victory for our client in his years-long struggle to recover a valuable work of art he rightfully owns," said James Palmer of Mondex Corp., the Canadian company hired by the Stettiner family to search for the painting, in a statement. "We look forward to working with Swiss authorities to recover Seated Man with Cane and returning it to its owner."

Information about ownership of the painting is part of 11 million internal documents of Mossack Fonseca, which were passed to a German newspaper and then to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. They offer a list of individuals around the world, including politicians and celebrities, with offshore accounts typically used as tax havens.

'Panama Papers' offer clues on $25 million Modigliani art taken by Nazis

See also:

Possible $100M Caravaggio painting found in attic after 400 years missing
April 12, 2016 -- A painting some experts believe was completed by Italian Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and found in a family's attic in France more than 400 years later was unveiled for the first time Tuesday.

The painting, Judith Beheading Holofernes, a gruesome depiction of a biblical scene, was found in the attic of a house near Toulouse, France, by a family investigating a leaky roof in 2014. Painted around 1604 and missing for about 400 years, it is believed to be untouched since a family member brought it home more than 150 years ago as a souvenir of Napoleon's military campaigns.

The painting was unveiled Tuesday in a Paris gallery where gallery owner Eric Turquin noted, "This particular lighting, this energy typical of Caravaggio without corrections, with a sure hand and the pictorial material make this painting an original." Art experts have noted the bold brushstrokes in the Italian "alla brava" style typical of Caravaggio, a painter who did not use preparatory sketches, suggest the painting is not a copy.

Art auctioneer Marc Labarde, among the first to see the painting, said he immediately recognized the work as a Caravaggio before sending photographs to Turquin, initiating a two-year investigation. "The whole painting was covered in a misty white, which was grime. So I took a bit of cotton and water and rubbed the dirt off the maid's face," said Labarde. A similar painting by Carvaggio depicting the same execution of Holofernes, an Assyrian general, was done prior to the painting of the newly discovered art work, and hangs in Rome's National Gallery of Ancient Art.

Possible $100M Caravaggio painting found in attic after 400 years missing

 

[waltky]

Heads gonna roll in China...

China largest market for Panama Papers law firm, ICIJ says
Fri, Apr 08, 2016 - Nearly one-third of the business of the law firm at the center of the “Panama Papers” scandal came from its offices in Hong Kong and China, reports said yesterday, with the Asian giant assailed by corruption and capital flight.

More than 16,300 of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca’s active shell companies were incorporated through its Hong Kong and China offices, 29 percent of the worldwide total, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which coordinated a year-long investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents. The investigation found that relatives of at least eight current or former members of the Central Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the party’s most powerful body, have been implicated in the use of offshore companies.

Such vehicles are not illegal in themselves and can be used for legitimate business needs. However, they commonly feature in corruption cases, when they can be used to secretly move ill-gotten gains abroad. Graft is rife in China, which Transparency International rates in 83rd place out of 168 in its most recent Corruption Perceptions Index. At the same time, growth in the world’s second-largest economy is slowing, and its wealthy have increasingly sought to move funds abroad, but have to contend with Beijing’s strict exchange-control regime.

Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, Beijing has launched a much-publicized anti-graft drive, but has not instituted systemic reforms, such as public declarations of assets. Xi’s brother-in-law and family members of two current members of the Central Politburo Standing Committee (CPSC) of the CCP, Zhang Gaoli and Liu Yunshan, have offshore holdings, the ICIJ reported. Deng Jiagui, Xi’s brother-in-law, was previously a shareholder in three companies: Supreme Victory Enterprises, Wealth Ming International and Best Effect Enterprises, reports said. The companies were closed before Xi took power in 2012.

MORE

See also:

Young Chinese in Vancouver flaunt family wealth
Thu, Apr 14, 2016 - Andy Guo, an 18-year-old Chinese immigrant, loves driving his red Lamborghini Huracan. He does not love having to share the car with his twin brother, Anky.

“There’s a lot of conflict,” Andy Guo said, as a crowd of admirers gazed at the vehicle and its vanity license plate, “CTGRY 5,” short for the most catastrophic type of hurricane. The C$360,000 (US$281,600) car was a gift last year from their father, who travels back and forth between Vancouver and China’s Shanxi Province and made his fortune in coal, said Andy Guo, an economics major at the University of British Columbia.

China’s rapid economic rise has turned peasants into billionaires. Many wealthy Chinese are increasingly eager to stow their families — and their riches — in the West, where rule of law, clean air and good schools offer peace of mind, especially for those looking to escape scrutiny from the Chinese Communist Party and an anticorruption campaign that has sent hundreds of rich and powerful people to jail. With its relatively weak currency and welcoming immigration policies, Canada has become a top destination for China’s “1 percenters.” According to Canadian government figures, from 2005 to 2012, at least 37,000 Chinese millionaires took advantage of a now-defunct immigrant investor program to become permanent residents of British Columbia, the province that includes Vancouver.

The metropolitan area of 2.3 million is home to increasing numbers of ethnic-Chinese residents, who made up more than 18 percent of the population in 2011, up from less than 7 percent in 1981, according to government figures. To the newcomers for whom money seems to be no object, the next purchase after a house is usually a car, and then a few more. A large number of luxury car dealerships there employ Chinese staff, a testament to the spending power of the city’s newest residents. Last year, there were 2,500 cars worth more than US$150,000 registered in metropolitan Vancouver, up from 1,300 in 2009, according to the Insurance Corp of British Columbia.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Panama Papers source breaks silence...

Panama Papers: Source breaks silence on Mossack Fonseca leaks
Fri, 06 May 2016 - The source behind the leak of the Panama Papers speaks for the first time, offering to help with prosecutions in return for immunity.

The anonymous source behind the leak of the Panama Papers has spoken for the first time, offering to help law authorities make prosecutions in return for immunity. In a 1,800-word statement, "John Doe" reveals he has never worked for a spy agency or a government. He starts the statement by citing "income equality" as a motive. The Panama Papers have shown how some wealthy people use offshore firms to evade tax and avoid sanctions. The papers belonged to the Mossack Fonseca law firm. It denies any wrongdoing and says it is the victim of a hack. The papers were investigated by hundreds of investigative journalists, including from the BBC, who worked in secret with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) for months.

The documents have revealed the hidden assets of hundreds of politicians, officials, current and former national leaders, celebrities and sports stars. They list more than 200,000 shell companies, foundations and trusts set up in tax havens around the world. The John Doe statement came shortly before US President Barack Obama delivered an address on the economy, in which he cited the Panama Papers as highlighting the problem of corruption and tax evasion. He said the US would require banks to identify those behind shell corporations. Mr Obama said his administration's actions would allow it to do a better job of making sure people paid taxes.

'Immunity'

Although the name John Doe is used, the gender of the source has not been revealed. In the statement, The Revolution will be Digitized, John Doe starts by saying: "Income equality is one of the defining issues of our time." He adds: "Banks, financial regulators and tax authorities have failed. Decisions have been made that have spared the wealthy while focusing instead on reining in middle- and low-income citizens." He goes on to say: "Thousands of prosecutions could stem from the Panama Papers, if only law enforcement could access and evaluate the actual documents. "ICIJ and its partner publications have rightly stated that they will not provide them to law enforcement agencies. "I, however, would be willing to co-operate with law enforcement to the extent that I am able." But he adds: "Legitimate whistleblowers who expose unquestionable wrongdoing, whether insiders or outsiders, deserve immunity from government retribution."

'Sordid acts'