Posted on 01/31/2016 3:26:14 PM PST by Lorianne
Since the 2008 financial crisis, wealthy buyers swooping in and paying cash–sometimes anonymously–have become the bane of traditional homebuyers. Now the Treasury Department says it wants to know if some of those luxury buyers are laundering money through their purchases.
The department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network will require title insurance companies that help facilitate such deals to identify the people behind all-cash purchase of high-end homes in Manhattan and Miami-Dade County, Fla. The temporary order intends to pierce the confidentiality often sought by luxury buyers who rely on shell companies or limited liability companies to shield their identity.
The requirement will make it easier to identify people attempting to hide their assets or launder money, Treasury said in a statement.
“We are seeking to understand the risk that corrupt foreign officials, or transnational criminals, may be using premium U.S. real estate to secretly invest millions in dirty money,†Jennifer Shasky Calvery, the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Asset forfeiture for criminal activity.
Who do they send the tax bills to?? Sounds stupid to me.
the tax assessments go to abc corp and ghj corp and bne.com
Why else are we on the road to ban cash and go completely digital? It’s all about people control. That and the gov’t wants their money back (all money is theirs).
I’d guess foreign interests
Oh,no-—I’m busted.
It was me.
:-)
.
the foreign interests own the corporations that own the corporations
you rotten dirty capitalist! ROFLMAO
Who cares. The properties are being sold. It is not as though they can be packed or boxed up and sent overseas.
“Since the 2008 financial crisis, wealthy buyers swooping in and paying cash-sometimes anonymously-have become the bane of traditional homebuyers. Now the Treasury Department says it wants to know if some of those luxury buyers are laundering money through their purchases.”
I don’t know if it’s laundering but foreign nationals paying cash have been driving SoCal real estate.
most of the purchasing in key California markets has been from communist Chinese.... and most of that’s ALL CASH
(they want to get some cash out of their own country, call it diversification if you will....they trust their govt about as much as most FR’ers trust the American federal govt)
That’s not the issue. The issue is—let’s say I made $30M selling cocaine, and buy a Park Ave. apartment with the money . . . .
Canada fixed the red-hot Vancouver housing market in part by saying “no more visas for a million dollar investment in the country, where 1-3 condos counted”.
Since when should the govt. be concerned about who buys what properties and where?
Did they check Beijing?
And then they'll give the properties to their cronies.
“I don’t know if it’s laundering but foreign nationals paying cash have been driving SoCal real estate.”
Nothing new. Been going on at least since the late 1980s.
One client of mine diversified holdings outside his Asian home country. US properties were cheap by comparison.
They borrow offshore, using other holdings as collateral, and pay cash inside the US giving them a buying power edge.
All that means is that they have means, unless they are doing things like offering little old ladies 5 million for a shack.
Then, maybe they are up to something.
Or it could be Muslims purchasing safe houses or enough land for another Mosque/armory.
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