Offshore Banking: The Secret Threat to America

In: Dissent: a journal devoted to radical ideas and the values of socialism and democracy, Band 50, Heft 2, S. 45-51

Abstract

Discusses the use of offshore banking & bank secrecy, as historically practiced in Swiss bank accounts, to launder billions of dollars stolen from people throughout the world. Shell companies -- also known as "mailbox" companies, international business corporations (IBCs), or personal investment companies (PICs) marketed by banks & accounting firms -- launder money & also hide profits from income taxes due the US, European, & developing countries' governments. Secrecy havens handle 26% of the world's wealth, including about a third of the profits of US multinational companies. Some experts calculate that possibly half the world's capital flows are handled in offshore centers, & the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that between $600 billion & $1.5 trillion of illicit money is laundered annually through secret bank accounts. Developing countries may lose $50 billion a year, & much of the money given to pro-Western dictators is laundered offshore & slipped back into Western stock markets & real estate. US treasury officials believe that 99.9% of foreign criminal & terrorist money sent to the US is placed in secure accounts, making it safe from detection. The author argues that US corporate & wealthy interests allied with the Bush administration protect such practices. L. A. Hoffman