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This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009
A tax felon from California is opening up about efforts afoot at the United Bank of Switzerland to help wealthy Americans dodge paying taxes.Igor Olenicoff, of California, hands the scoop to Bloomberg:
California billionaire Igor Olenicoff had already invested $200 million with UBS AG in 2001 when his Swiss bankers ushered him to an underground vault in Geneva.Olenicoff, a real estate developer with a taste for yachts and Russian art, saw floor upon floor of safe-deposit boxes. His private banker, Bradley Birkenfeld, and a colleague showed Olenicoff his own space for valuables.
“They said, ‘Whatever you want -- corporate stock, cash, gold, silver -- put it in here,’” says Olenicoff, 66, at the Newport Beach, California, headquarters of Olen Properties Corp., the company he founded in 1973. “It was that aura of legitimacy and secrecy. They say, ‘We’re the world’s largest wealth manager,’ so how do you question?”
Birkenfeld, 44, had spent years wooing Olenicoff, visiting his homes in Laguna Beach, California, and Lighthouse Point, Florida; cruising on his 147-foot (45-meter) yacht to Mayan ruins in Honduras; and flying on his Cessna Citation II jet.
Four years later, both men are admitted felons. Since December 2007, the billionaire and his banker have pleaded guilty to tax crimes.
You should absolutely read the rest of this fascinating exploration of how wealth is obscured.
It's also worthy noting that former Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX), who was briefly Sen. John McCain's economic adviser during the 2008 presidential campaign, is the vice-chairman of UBS AG's investiment banking division. If you're wondering whether he had anything to do with the company's efforts to recruit the wealthy into tax shelters, well ... You aren't the only one.
-- Stephen C. Webster
