On Sat, 4 May 1996, Sandy Sandfort wrote:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

C'punks,

On Fri, 3 May 1996 jamesd@echeque.com wrote:

...

What tax havens would you like, if you did business in tax havens, which of course you do not ;-)

I haven't done any sort of survey lately, but I think the following jurisdictions are all good bets:

BANKING Cayman Islands, Liechtenstein, Isle of Man, Canada(!) for some purposes, United States for non-US people and or nominee offshore corporations owned by anyone.

CORPS./TRUSTS English speaking Caribbean countries, Hongkong in certain circumstances, Liechtenstein for its trust-like entities.

LIVING Most anywhere that you like and that isn't your country of citizenship. If I had the bucks, I would seriously look at Campione d'Italia.

I'd be curious to hear what Duncan Frissell and Black Unicorn had to say on this question.

Again, my answers tend to be application specific. If you are simply trying to protect assets from creditors, I suggest using at least two jurisdictions, maybe more if you can, and "chain" your bank transactions just like you would chain remailers. Creditors with the means to go looking can find a great deal even in "banking secrecy jurisdictions." I tend not to trust the Cayman Islands, but that's more my paranoia and "sixth sense" then anything else. Take that concern with appropriate grains of salt. I've not been pleased with Switzerland lately. Liechtenstein is wonderful if you have a good deal of cash, but it can be less interesting for smaller depositors. I suggest Verwaltungs und Privat Bank AG (VP Bank Liechtestein) for smaller depositors, and Bank in Liechtenstein (BIL) for larger depositors. (Disclaimer: I hold interests in both these institutions). Isle of Man has become somewhat less interesting to me because of the UK's willingness to participate in mutual assistance treaties with the United States. Still, for banking and asset protection from private plaintiffs, it's secrecy is good. Other jurisdictions I would suggest simply for banking secrecy from private plaintiffs would include Vanautu (Though I would note that there is a bit of instability there currently. It seems the locals dislike the english governor a great deal and have begun to sound meanacing about it). While Vanautu has passed a money laundering law, if your application is not otherwise criminal it's still an excellent option. For Corporations I would suggest jurisdictions that permit bearer stock to be issued. Panama (yes, still), Vanautu, Isle of Man, Cayman Islands. I can give a more specific list for people who are serious about their interest. Many of the British protectorates are very attractive. Living? Again, application specific. Do you sail? Ski? It's important to recognize that general advice which does not tune itself to your specific needs can be worse than useless. Ignore almost everything I said above if your expected threat model is anything more than low to moderately determined private plaintiffs (divorce, personal injury, typical small to medium business law suits are all fairly harmless with mere secret banking, but determined attackers with more resources and government attackers have a great deal more resources).

S a n d y

--- My preferred and soon to be permanent e-mail address:unicorn@schloss.li "In fact, had Bancroft not existed, potestas scientiae in usu est Franklin might have had to invent him." in nihilum nil posse reverti 00B9289C28DC0E55 E16D5378B81E1C96 - Finger for Current Key Information Opp. Counsel: For all your expert testimony needs: jimbell@pacifier.com