Cayman Islands Holidays: Snowstorm – tax havens and organised crime today

Al and pals

Organised crime has had a long association with tax havens.  As our own Nicholas Shaxson wrote in an article The truth about tax havens, the Bahamas was set up as a secrecy jurisdiction by Meyer Lansky, none other than Al Capone’s lawyer. When Lansky was thrown out he moved to nearby Caymans. It is easy to see the attraction, loose laws and financial secrecy make the laundering of the proceeds of crime much easier.

But how much do governments and police forces include tackling tax havens in their thinking of modern organised crime? Not much according to two experts on the issue Mary Young and Michael Woodwiwiss.

Currently the UK government spends a significant amount of its development aid in countering organised crime, but appears to have little scientific understanding about what exactly that is. There is also little transparency about where that aid money is going.  (more...)

Snowstorm – tax havens and organised crime today

Related:

The truth about tax havens

How mob boss Meyer Lansky laundered the American Mafia’s dirty cash – and made them bigger than U.S. Steel

Dissecting the Cayman Islands Offshore Financial Centre

Cayman vacationer