While many are focused upon Gordon Sondland purchasing the ambassadorship to the European Union for a bargain price of $1 million, few understand how he became a successful hotel operator. This is a fascinating story, inspired by Fred Trump, President Trump's father. In the commercial real estate world, few names are more highly regarded than … Continue reading Gordon Sondland – How Fred Trump, Not Donald, Seeded his Success
Author: Bill Parish
By Luke Harding and Jon Swaine - February 11, 2019 Questions have been raised about the US tax affairs of the wife of Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, after records suggested she may have failed to declare her true income to US regulators and not disclosed foreign bank accounts. Tatiana Navka, a former Olympic ice dancing champion, also … Continue reading The Guardian – Revealed: Wife of Putin’s Spokesman Faces Questions over US Tax Affairs
February 11, 2019 By Luke Harding and Jon Swaine In January the Guardian asked me to review a set of tax facts regarding a prominent couple, not telling me who it was. Later in February I learned that the story involved former Olympic ice dancing champion Tatiana Navka, who is married to Dmitry Peskov, Vladimir … Continue reading The Guardian – Wife of Putin’s spokesman faces questions over US tax affairs
After President Trump fired widely respected Preet Bharara as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, he then personally interviewed candidates and selected Geoffrey Berman. US Attorney for Southern District of New York, Past and Current Preet Bharara Geoffrey Berman Geoffrey Berman then made two major decisions, the first was to recuse … Continue reading Robert Khuzami Should Recuse Himself From Leading Michael Cohen/Deutsche Bank Criminal Investigation
While the media is sensationalizing Intel CEO Brian Krzanich's recent stock sales as unusual given the recently disclosed security weakness in Intel's chips, a closer look reveals excellent tax planning, to the benefit of the company. One of the key changes in the new tax law, a good one, is to expand the definition of … Continue reading A Closer Look at Intel CEO Stock Sale Reveals Good Tax Planning?
Disclosure: This post is both broad and detailed so that interested analysts and journalists can gather key facts and form their own opinion. Reviewing incredible schemes such as this orchestrated by Robert Mercer and Jim Simons often attract teams of analysts and reporters. This post is original fact checked independent research available free on … Continue reading How Trump Patron Robert Mercer Brilliantly Shifts Assets From The Main Street Economy, Beer Sales, Into What Bloomberg Calls “The Blackest Box in Finance.” Is Mercer indeed, like Trump, under severe financial stress?
By Jon Swaine - November 7, 2017 Leaked documents and newly obtained public filings show how the billionaire Mercer family built a $60m war chest for conservative causes inside their family foundations by using an offshore investment vehicle to avoid US tax. The offshore vehicle was part of a network of companies in the Atlantic … Continue reading The Guardian – Offshore cash helped fund Steve Bannon’s attacks on Hillary Clinton
By Jon Swaine November 7, 2017 Read full Guardian story here
See prior September 18. 2017 blog post for important background regarding PERS adoption of age weighted IAP accounts. Once again, it appears that younger workers are being short changed by PERS in the adoption of age weighted IAP accounts. Remarkably, there was no opportunity for public discussion on vendor selection or strategy regarding how the … Continue reading PERS IAP Accounts – Too Much Politics? Disclosure Lessons from Oregon Secretary of State Dennis Richardson
In 2004 the State of Oregon decided to isolate the "employee contribution" part of PERS and put these amounts into what are called IAP (Individual Account Program) accounts. These 200,000 IAP accounts are essentially a defined contribution program, not unlike a 401K, for which members earn returns based upon market results with no guaranteed rate of … Continue reading Oregon PERS Set to Award $8 billion Contract, Largest Contract in State’s History With no Media Coverage