Island tax havens factor into Romney's business success: Involvement hasn't previously come to light

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: Los Angeles Times

By Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
December 17, 2007
BOSTON -- Second of two parts

While in private business, Mitt Romney utilized shell companies in two offshore tax havens to help eligible investors avoid paying U.S. taxes, federal and state records show. Romney gained no personal tax benefit from the legal operations in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. But aides to the Republican presidential hopeful and former colleagues acknowledged that the tax-friendly jurisdictions helped attract billions of additional investment dollars to Romney's former company, Bain Capital, and thus boosted profits for Romney and his partners.

Romney has based his White House bid, in part, on the skills he learned as co-founder and chief of Bain Capital, one of the nation's most successful private equity groups. His campaign cites his record while governor of Massachusetts of closing state tax loopholes; his involvement with foreign tax havens had not previously come to light.

In the Cayman Islands, Romney was listed as a general partner and personally invested in BCIP Associates III Cayman, a private equity fund that is registered at a post office box on Grand Cayman Island and that indirectly buys equity in U.S. companies. The arrangement shields foreign investors from U.S. taxes they would pay for investing in U.S. companies.

Romney still retains an investment in the Cayman fund through a trust. Campaign disclosure forms show the investment paid him more than $1 million last year in dividends, interest and capital gains.

In Bermuda, Romney served as president and sole shareholder for four years of Sankaty High Yield Asset Investors Ltd. It funneled money into Bain Capital's Sankaty family of hedge funds, which invest in bonds and other debt issued by corporations, as well as bank loans. Like thousands of similar financial entities, Sankaty maintains no office or staff in Bermuda. Its only presence consists of a nameplate at a lawyer's office in downtown Hamilton, capital of the British island territory....

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mittoffshore17dec17,1,1251285,full.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=2&cset=true

[AzDar]

1. Ooohhhh.... K & R.

[bbinacan]

2. I'm playing devil's advocate

Did he break any laws? Was he doing the best thing for his clients?

[DeepModem Mom]

3. He broke no laws: "legal operations." nt

[9119495]

8. He says he wants a strong nation and that he is a patriot...

so this is very hypocritical.

[Zynx]

14. Oh, it's legal, just very shady.

[Vinca]

4. Romney is a slimeball. I don't care if it is "legal" - is it moral

to put the tax load on the little guys because you can afford to offshore your money? Romney got rich by buying out companies and tossing the workers into the gutter. He makes me ill.

[rox63]

5. Mittens is slimy through and through

This is just a bit more evidence to throw onto the pile. :puke:

[eringer]

6. Perhaps he could use his experience cheating the american people to bail out Social Security

Also, it sounds like he knows a lot about the IRS rules. No flat taxer here!

[whistle]

7. To republicans this is just good business even though it may have involved money laundering

:wtf: Expose these bastards for who and what they really are

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ceile]

10. Find a more credible source, Bert.

And enjoy your stay. :hi:

[HeraldSquare212]

11. Bloomberg had the same story yesterday

and also mentioned Edwards' similar participation in funds that use offshore havens.

[ceile]

12. Ahhh

Well, he still could have chosen a source that wasn't "right" leaning.

[whathappened]

13. something tells me

in my gut that we have a bunch of slime balls running every election , both dem and replup , which way can you point a finger to anymore , they are all dirty in some way , we just have to hold our nose and vote

[Jackpine Radical]

15. We may not like it, but it's legal.

The rich play by different rules than the rest of us, and for the most part, the candidates are rich enough to play by the Rich rules. Maybe the only clean one (by my standards) is Kucinich.

[joeglow3]

17. ....

Speaking as a tax CPA, this behavior knows no political leanings. However, if you are going to preach against something, common sense says you should not be participating in it (legal or not). Thus, while I would like to see ROmney go down, I am more concerned with the practice being made illegal.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

18. Since they control who makes the fucking rules, the ruling class.

Voters can start with putting an end to the Clinton/Bush reign.

[JBoy]

16. Nothing earthshattering here, but

it's a factor that could be brought up again and again if Romney got the nomination. A complete explanation is somewhat complicated - beyond the attention span of most voters. It's got good potential as a swift-boat storyline.