By: Dennis SJune 19, 2012
There’s but one definitive modern-day adjective that does full
justice to Mitt Romney – sketchy. Read the full 203 pages of his joint
2010 income tax filing and see if you don’t agree. I do believe he’s a
good family man. He’s certainly sleazed up a lucrative path for Tagg,
one of his sons.
Mitt Romney has released a single income tax return (back in
January), not two as the media keeps telling you. So he has made his
2010 filing available to the public. As for 2011, it’s all estimates. It
was due April 17th and he promised to release it on that date. “When my
tax returns are complete for this year, when they’re completed this
year in April, I’ll release my returns in April and probably other years
as well.” On April 17th he filed for a six-month extension. None of the
“probably other years as well” have seen the light of day either. His
dad and the president released multiple returns, as should Romney. I’d
especially like to see his 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 returns. They could
make fascinating reading.
Romney claims his 2010 income was $21,646,507. His taxes amounted to
roughly 14%. His finances are odd at best and highly suspicious at
worst. He’s got 3 blind trusts. There’s the Ann and Mitt Romney 1995
Family Blind Trust; the W. Mitt Romney Blind Trust and the Ann D. Romney
Blind Trust. The ’95 trust and the Ann Romney trust seem to get most of
the action.
The income tax form 1040 was filed jointly as a married couple by
Willard M. and Ann D. Romney. The couple realized about 12 ½ million in
Capital Gains. Mitt doesn’t want capital gains taxed AT ALL. Nor does he
want to tax dividend and interest income. Most of the remaining Romney
swag comes from ta ta!!! dividend and interest income. He hauled in
$528.871 in author and speaker fees and a little more cabbage in
Director bucks.
One truly puzzling aspect of the Romney return is the paucity of
money coming from his overseas investments. And he’s got plenty of them.
But many of them make but a few dollars. I’m talking $14 for instance.
Some will get into the low five figures, but Gross Foreign Source Income
seems low at $2,731,550.
Here were some of ‘Mitt and Ann Romneys’ favorite foreign investing
holes. There was, of course, the infamous UBS Ann Romney blind trust
account that was closed in 2010 after too many embarrassing questions.
That’s the same account that yielded piggy-bank sized interest, though
little was said about dividend payouts. Olten, Switzerland commanded
some Romney money as well. How odd! The population is around 17,000 or
so. The actual company the trust is doing business with is called “Swiss
Prime Site”. It’s a high-end commercial and retail realtor. So did they
buy some property in yodeland? The trust shows a gain of $71.00.
Our next stop on the
‘hide-the-money-so-we-won’t-have-to-pay-full-taxes’ tour takes us to
Deutsche Beteiligungs AG in Frankfurt. DB is a big old private equity
firm specializing in Mid-sized companies. Romney shows a profit of
$14.00 in one account, and an apparent loss of $7.00 in another. Let’s
now all gather at International ‘B’ and hop a plane for Dublin with a
side trip to neighboring Luxembourg while we’re at it. Bain Capital
operates an ‘office’ in Munsbach. The most recent population figures put
the number of residents at 585. What’s with a tiny-town address to
conduct major league investment action? There are other major equity
houses in Munsbach as well. Itty-bitty village
notwithstanding, Romney
managed to produce $20,255 in dividend income from their cobblestone
streets. There are at least 4 Luxembourg-originated accounts.
URSA funding is another Romney favorite in Luxembourg. URSA calls
itself an ‘Administrative Assistance’ company.. They’ll help you out
with your tax and wealth management structure. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
They’re located at 16 Avenue Pasteur, Luxembourg City along with 36
other mostly financially oriented firms. Luxembourg is pint-sized, very
wealthy and secretive. Ideal Romney country. The return listed $6.00 in
dividend income and $143.00 in capital gains from URSA. Really?
Now let’s pop over to Dublin. BNY (Bank of New York) Mellon of
Ireland is Mitt’s firm of choice here. In case BNY seems familiar it
might be for their New York bank’s role in working with UK’s Barclay’s
bank to allegedly screw the U.S. out of a billion in investor tax
dollars in what were characterized as abusive tax shelters. BNY Ireland
wasn’t mentioned in the April Press Release, but it’s odd how the Romney
name pops up as a client of the likes of UBS and BNY. A second BNY
Ireland account shows about 500 dollars in profits for Romney. Really?
My favorite Romney Irish account is Barracuda Investments. You just
know they’ll fight for you. I won’t even bother with the details of
foreign currency transactions from the U.S. to Ireland or other
potential conflicts of interest that abound.
We haven’t hit the Grand Cayman’s yet, so come aboard. Castle Garden
Funding (Ann Romney Blind Trust) is an apparent subsidiary of Ogier SVCS
LTD. Both do the Romney’s bidding in this far-flung paradise. There are
439 companies that call this tax haven home. In addition to the
Caymans, Ogier, a ‘legal services’ law firm, has tax-avoidance
encampments in numerous other ‘screw Uncle Sam’ destinations including
Dublin and Luxembourg. While we’re in the vicinity, there’s also an Ann
Romney Blind Trust foreign partnership in George Town (they split the
name over there)..
Let’s not forget Centro Properties in Glen Waverly, Victoria mate.
That’s a suburb of Melbourne. Centro specializes in shopping centers.
The Romney’s 1995 Family Trust claimed a $2.00 loss on that one.
One more fund worth mentioning is the hedge fund/leveraged
loans/distressed/stressed debt firm set up in 1997 in Bermuda called the
Sankaty High Yield Asset fund, a credit affiliate of Bain Capital. It
has $15.5 billion in assets. Even the guy who set it up describes it as
nothing more than a ‘mail drop’. At Sankaty you can buy U.S. companies
and pay no taxes.
Let’s close with the family sleaze I was telling you about.
ThinkProgress
did a great job nosing into the details. In 2008, Mitt gave son Tagg
$10 million seed money from the Ann Romney trust to set up an equity
company called Solamere Capital.
The Boston Globe
at the time uncovered a list of subsequent investors that had also been
substantial donors to the Romney presidential nominee campaign. In
total, Tagg and his two partners stand to make $16.8 million in
management fees alone. Even old Mitt grabs $115,000 per annum as a
company director. In all, 64 investors fed the fund nearly $244 million.
How many of those were campaign donors and what kind of favors will
they seek for that giant money?
Final question. If the seed money came from a “blind” trust, where
the principals are to have no input or knowledge of what goes on, how
did $10 million end up in the hands of Tagg Romney? Did Tagg just ask
the trustee for the loot from mommy’s trove?
I’ve barely skimmed the surface. This guy is a PLAYUH!!! The oval office is the last place you’d want to find him.
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