On Fri, 19 Apr 1996, Roger Schlafly wrote:
An escrow agent can presumably be compelled, unless his is accused of a crime, or has a privilege, or is outside jurisdiction. Interestingly, a footnote in the above case said:
The Government of the Cayman Islands maintains that a compelled consent, such as the one at issue in this case, is not sufficient to authorize the release of confidential financial records protected by Cayman law.
Sounds like the Cayman Islands might be a good place for your key escrow agents.
Currently, no better than the United States. First, the Cayman Islands law refers primarily (if not exclusively) to financial information. Second, the judicial blocking provisions in the Caymans have been much reduced by the U.S. Mutual Legal Assistance treaty that penetrates banking secrecy when it is interfering with a criminal investigation involving money laundering or a series of other crimes. Third, even in the event your escrow information was protected the court would be much more successful simply by trying to compel the defendant through contempt sanctions. (It's not always enough to put data overseas, particularly where you're still sitting in the U.S. or otherwise within the court's jurisdiction). Fourth, prosecutors don't typically bother to try and compell [escrow] agents, but instead seek "consent orders" from defendants instructing the agent to release the information. So, in sum, the Caymans law doesn't have anything to do with non-financial information safekeeping. Even if it did, a criminal investigation that would be interesting enough to try and seek non-tax and non-financial information from an agent in the Islands would almost certainly trigger the secrecy penetration clauses of the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty. And finally, the fact that they cant get your data is not going to protect you from a major main in the rump. The large article I posted to the list goes into these points in detail in the context of protecting financial information and assets. If you would like another copy, please let me know.
Roger Schlafly
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