Panama Has Company as Bank-Secrecy Holdout, as U.S. Offers Haven "Panama and the U.S. have at least one thing in common: Neither has agreed to new international standards to make it harder for tax evaders and money launderers to hide their money. Over the past several years, amid increased scrutiny by journalists, regulators and law enforcers, the global tax-haven landscape has shifted. In an effort to catch tax dodgers, almost 100 countries and other jurisdictions have agreed since 2014 to impose new disclosure requirements for bank accounts, trusts and some other investments held by international customers -- standards issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a government-funded international policy group. Places like Switzerland and Bermuda are agreeing, at least in principle, to share bank account information with tax authorities in other countries. Only a handful of nations have declined to sign on. The most prominent is the U.S. Another, Panama, is at the center of a storm over tax evasion and global cash flight that broke out over the weekend. A law firm there helped set up tens of thousands of shell companies, according to a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. ICIJ and other news organizations published reports they said showed global efforts to hide wealth, undertaken by global politicians and the ultra-rich, with the aid of banks and lawyers. The central tool: shell companies that people used to shield the identity of the owners’ assets. While such structures can be legal, they can also support efforts to avoid taxes. U.S. Secrecy ..." http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...y-as-bank-secrecy-holdout-as-u-s-offers-haven
Here is a juicy short. Note that there was likely insider trading in January from people that knew what was coming. $20 seems like a likely target initially, and maybe teens or single digit thereafter depending on involvement: :
The big difference is, the US is so influential no one does a thing about it. Yet Panama was put on the FATF grey list. With these lastest developments, if they don't play ball, I'm sure FAFT will threaten to put them on the black list which effectively removes them from the world financial system
One down! Sadly it was only from the toxicity not illegality (yet). I still have doubts if there will be any legal charges of tax evasion. The people writing/buying the laws are the ones doing this stuff.