The Democratic National Committee used this image in press releases in January.
Back in January, Americans first learned something odd about Mitt Romney. The fact that he's enormously wealthy was not new, but one of the eyebrow-raising aspects of his wealth is where he's kept his money: the Republican nominee is the first modern candidate to stash cash in the Cayman Islands and have a Swiss bank account for no apparent reason.
Romney wasn't exactly forthcoming with details -- as his hidden tax returns help show, he's kind of shy -- and voters still don't know much about his offshore finances.
But in a much-discussed piece for Vanity Fair, Nicholas Shaxson digs deeper into Romney's offshore finances, which "look pretty strange for a presidential candidate."
[T]here is a Bermuda-based entity called Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd., which has been described in securities filings as "a Bermuda corporation wholly owned by W. Mitt Romney." It could be that Sankaty is an old vehicle with little importance, but Romney appears to have treated it rather carefully. He set it up in 1997, then transferred it to his wife's newly created blind trust on January 1, 2003, the day before he was inaugurated as Massachusetts's governor.... Romney failed to list this entity on several financial disclosures, even though such a closely held entity would not qualify as an "excepted investment fund" that would not need to be on his disclosure forms. [...]
That's not the only money Romney has in tax havens. Because of his retirement deal with Bain Capital, his finances are still deeply entangled with the private-equity firm that he founded and spun off from Bain and Co. in 1984. Though he left the firm in 1999, Romney has continued to receive large payments from it -- in early June he revealed more than $2 million in new Bain income. The firm today has at least 138 funds organized in the Cayman Islands, and Romney himself has personal interests in at least 12, worth as much as $30 million, hidden behind controversial confidentiality disclaimers. Again, the Romney campaign insists he saves no tax by using them, but there is no way to check this.
A veteran Washington lawyer and offshore expert told Vanity Fair, "What Romney does not get is that this stuff is weird."
Complicating matters are questions about how Romney acquired so much wealth in the first place.
This part of the article also stood out:
There is absolutely no evidence that Bain has done anything illegal, but private equity is one channel for this secrecy-shrouded foreign money to enter the United States, and a filing for Mitt Romney's first $37 million Bain Capital Fund, of 1984, provides a rare window into this. One foreign investor, of $2 million, was the newspaper tycoon, tax evader, and fraudster Robert Maxwell, who fell from his yacht, and drowned, off of the Canary Islands in 1991 in strange circumstances, after looting his company's pension fund. The Bain filing also names Eduardo Poma, a member of one of the "14 families" oligarchy that has controlled most of El Salvador's wealth for decades; oddly, Poma is listed as sharing a Miami address with two anonymous companies that invested $1.5 million between them. The filings also show a Geneva-based trustee overseeing a trust that invested $2.5 million, a Bahamas corporation that put in $3 million, and three corporations in the tax haven of Panama, historically a favored destination for Latin-American dirty money -- "one of the filthiest money-laundering sinks in the world," as a U.S. Customs official once put it.
Bain Capital has said it did everything required by the U.S. government to check that the investors were not associated with unsavory interests. U.S. law doesn't require Bain to enforce the tax laws of its investors' home countries, but the presence of Swiss trustees, Bahamas trusts, and Panama corporations would raise red flags with any tax authority.
Under the circumstances, it would seem as if Romney has some legitimate questions to answer about his remarkable offshore investment strategy, but therein lies part of the problem: the candidate simply won't talk about it. He hears the questions, evades them, waits for them to go away, and hopes voters simply don't notice.
And who knows, maybe that'll work. But given the questions and the fact that this multi-millionaire still paid a lower tax rate than the American middle class (and intends to keep it that way if elected), there's simply no reason to let this issue fade away.
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But you'd think a guy who knew he couldn't hire a gardening service that employed undocumented workers would realize that having overseas accounts is 'unAmerican'.
Of course if the Democrats were in control of the Senate, and borrowing from the Republicans playbook, there would be investigations, hearings, etc. Oh wait...
Surprise surprise, like the majority of the American ruling class, Romney is at best a coddler of criminals, if not a member of the criminal class himself.
Hey, that's class warfare!
Notice how they trade millions like it was pocket change . I mean seriously if you can risk 1 or 2 million .....
They are the 1%
Like George Carlin said: You don't have choices , you have owners
Yes the law abiding class versus the criminal class.
Romney is un-American. Period. How anyone on the right (the so called evangelical Christians) could vote for this serial lying abortion profiteer...
But, Willard's going to Israel, to complain that Barack has never been there as POTUS, and hold a cluster jerk party for the Evajihadist dream of destroying Israel to save the Jews. Bebe can"t wait.
There you go again- Class Warfare!
When WILL you peons learn not to question your betters?
If the Obama Campaign or his superpacs don't run with this and make it an issue everyday, Obama doesn't deserved to be re-elected.
And where is the ad from Hillary refuting the exploitation of Shame on You Barack Obama from the 2008 primary (us folks in the battlegrounds get them all) .
http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/06/romney-ad-features-hillary-clinton-shame-on-you-barack-127713.html
All you need is Hillary standing there . Seriously Mitt ? Sound clips from a 2008 primary?
I've got some from your primary circa 2012 .
And then let them rip .......
I'd like to see that too, but Sec. Clinton would then be stepping into the political realm.
I don't think that would be good for her or the White House or the campaign.
Mr. Shaxson should be hired by the Obama campaign!
Speculation is that Mitt hid is money off shore because he knew his banking friends were planning on raping the economy and Mitt wanted his money safe. Of course I made this up but would love it to be considered.
I really relish that the words "class warfare" have been "re-purposed" by the most atrocious and relentless class warriors of all time. I see the Robber Barons never actually left, but the word are about to become very familiar once again when applied to Rmoney magnates (magnets?)...
"words", damned editing..
Romney is not talking about his off shore accounts because that will make the issue go away. NOT!
"Romney is a tax evader!!"
Yeah, but no. The Democrats won't do this. Even though the Republicans lie every single day. Just yesterday, "the ACA is the biggest tax increase since the beginning of time!". Uh, no it's not. Not even close.
Sigh. Doesn't Obama have a super pac that can do the exaggeration for us?
And - TRMS - let's keep reminding the Democrats that they need to be a walking brochure for the ACA. New question: exactly how many citizens are likely to pay the tax/penalty? Isn't it logically a small percentage and thus not a huge tax?
Unfortunately, there don't seem to be as many billionaire liberals willing to give to Obama's superpac. I think that they are relying on all of us little guys wit hour $3.00 contributions. Not good.
Will Romney represent, defend, protect and lead America forward?
Or, will Romney and his wealthy (unidentified) 'Special Interests Friends, both Domestic and Foreign', 'off shore' the moral and financial bankruptcy of America with his 'Business Morality'?
America's pillage and plunder story: THE ROMNEY TRACK RECORD on Middle Class America
Romney/Bain and Vulture Capitalist 'Special Friends BOTH Domestic and Foreign'… buys cos, gets US gov grant $s still unpaid, outsources American jobs overseas, crushed workers' unions who helped build these companies, then striped and sold land/buildings/equipment and assets, 'defunded' the workers' earned 401K retirement funds, then, OOPS-declares Bankruptcy!, AND then off shores his Billions with his wealthy Foreign Friends.
Who really is ROMNEY?
Can you really trust Romney and his wealthy 'Special Interest Friends, both Domestic and Foreign', with your family, your community OR America's future?
Can you really trust the truth of Romney's words on any given day OR the 'ROMNEY' truth on his track record in America?
Romney is NOT a candidate who has loved, defended or truly been 'vested' or 'invested' in America, only his personal wealth has driven his 'American' morality.
Romney has never EARNED OR QUALIFIED for the privileged TRUST to be America's Leader OR America's Commander in Chief OR America's Statesman.
Romney AND his 'Special Interest Friends, both Domestic and Foreign', will not BUY our VOTE or be allowed to outsource and offshore America's Future!
If Mitt Romney does not trust the U.S. to invest his money, then we cannot trust Mitt Romney to be President of the U.S.
The problem with this is the same as the problem with the ACA ruling. Most people know so little about ANYTHING that something as complex as cross-borders finance (a.k.a. tax evasion) is too challenging to even think about. Romney is probably right to think he doesn't need to talk about this. He knows most people can't grasp it.
I mean, we have millions of people (apparently) who did not realize that if your income is $2000/mo you really can't afford a mortgage payment of $1500/mo. These are not people who know anything about tax shelters.
If progressives really want to ramp up the general level of awareness of our voting public, they may need to infiltrate the writing staffs of "reality" shows and start scripting some discussions of real-life issues that go beyond spray tanning and hair extensions.
is ROMNEY going to pick TOM CRUISE as his VP? a MORMON and SCIENTOLOGIST.....two very secretive and intolerant groups.