CASE IN POINT Texas tycoon Sam Wyly and his brother Charles have been charged by the SEC......they hid some $500M gained fraudulently, while sitting on public boards, then hid the money in “an elaborate sham system of trusts and subsidiary companies” on the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands.
THAT SOUNDS FAMILIAR The trustee ID'ing Bernie Madoff's Ponzi assets unearthed a labyrinth of interrelated intl funds, institutions and entities of almost unparalleled complexity and breadth with assets and businesses in 11 places overseas. No question, tax evasion and money laundering was the name of the game for wealthy investors funneling income to Madoff.
Wealthy businessmen posing as "philanthropists" hid and laundered hundreds of millions in annual income with Madoff. Later investors were suckered in to make the scheme look legit. The suckers helped payoff wealthy investors like Picower who made payback deals with Bernie. Picower got back much much more than he put in.....to the tune of 900%.
Madoff ran several scams simultaneously: (1) a Ponzi fraud that made him and his family wealthy; (2) laundering tax-free money for phony "charities," (3) IRS fraud facilitation for the wealthy; (4) a protection racket (shielding investors from L/E); (5) laundering tax-free money destined for big buck campaign contributions (campaign fraud).
BTW, here's another "lucky" Madoff investor. Ira Rennert, Fifth Avenue Synagogue board chair, and Chairman of Yeshiva University Investment Committee, invested some $200 million w/ Madoff.
Rennert's Hamptons Mega Mansion, Sagaponack, NY; rivals Versailles and Buckingham Palace in luxury and size. It has tax evasion written all over it. This obscenely gargantuan mansion, dubbed Fairfield, is reportedly the largest occupied residential compound in America Square Feet: 66,000 / 110,000 (including outbuildings). It is situated on 63 prime acres and houses 29 bedrooms and 39 bathrooms. It also has a dining room that stretches 90 feet long, a bowling alley, two tennis courts, a squash court, a 164 seat movie theater, and a 200 car garage AND a rather rare item---its own power plant.
Fairfield is currently valued at more than $185 illion. Hamptonites complain this astoundingly palatial mega-mansion in the posh Hamptons is actually a "synagogue-residence-yeshiva" for Orthodox Judaism students.
Rennert says he is Founder of The Renco Group.