Lika Starr

ABC News is reporting hundreds of super rich people are under investigation for hiding billions from U.S. and European Tax Authorities in a private bank overseas. The bank is located in a small country between Switzerland and Austria. The country is Liechtenstein and is only 1/10th the size of Rhode Island.

It all went down when a disgruntled bank employee downloaded the names of secret account holders of the LGT Bank in Liechtenstein and handed over or sold his information to the tax authorities. The employee, Heinrich Kieber, is currently in hideout from his own country where he is considered a thief. However, he will be testifying tomorrow on behalf of U.S. Tax Authorities in front of a Senate committee via video from a safe location. Keiber’s Washington DC based attorney says the tax evaders are the real criminals.

Peter Lowy, who is on the secret account list, is also wanted for questioning tomorrow. Lowy, a Los Angeles billionaire and owner of Westfield retail shopping center, also purveyor of the retail space for the new World Trade Center in New York. Lowy’s attorney acknowledged his client is on the list, but said Lowy will be out of town and will miss the hearing. He also says his client did nothing wrong.

The reigning Prince of Liechtenstein, Hans-Adams II, owns the LGT bank and was also asked for questioning but refused. The royal family says it does own the bank but does not run it. However, the family does enforce the strict privacy banking laws. It is possible the Prince could face charges filed in their perspective countries. But more likely, the bank will be forced to shut down or at the very least lose it’s license to do business with affected foreign countries.

The LGT Bank employee, Heinrich Kieber, has reportedly already made millions by providing the list. As part of the deal he will also get 30% of whatever the IRS collects as a result of his cooperation.

See full story here.

I don’t normally write about stuff like this but there are so many crooked angles in this story, it ain’t even funny.

1. Don’t these rich bitches have enough money already? I mean we’re talking about billionaires and multi millionaires here. It’s not like it’s people who are trying to escape taxes so they can by a loaf of bread or something.

2. The Prince of Liechtenstein — What a greedy-ass bitch! You don’t run the bank — my ass! Even if you don’t, you own the damn thing, you run the government that enforces the laws keep the accounts in secrecy and as owner you profit big.

3. The disgruntled employee. Yeah right, tell me another one. Your ass was bought and you know it!

4. Our government. Where do I even start? Find some sucker to steal the bank records and pay him off to become his own country’s most wanted criminal. Hire a Washington attorney for him and offer him a safe haven of his own. Now, where is he hiding out again? Oh that’s right, we don’t know….hmmm.

5. The IRS — Oh boy! Never mind, I’m not going there. I’ll just say this: There’s not one single written legislative law that says any of us must legally pay taxes. But there are tax evasion laws. So dammit, if I have to pay them, so does everyone else.

6. Finally, I can only wonder who’s names we’ll never see that were on that list. Yeah, I’m talking about the ones that will be or have already been deleted. Any dibs on the politicians, lobbyists or oil tycoons who won’t show up on that list?

I guess the real reason this ruffles my feathers is because I’ve had my own unfortunate dealings with taxes. Several years ago my employer goofed on reporting my income (of course it was my fault because I didn’t catch it) so I ended up having to pay over $12K in taxes and penalties a few years later. Most of that was penalties. It sucked big time but I paid it off like a good little American citizen. Of course I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

What gripes me is that these butt-heads have gotten away with this for years. I’m sure their attorneys will find a way out of most of what they should owe. Either that or there will be settlements that equal pennies on the dollar, etc. We’re talking about a lot of money. Probably billions in back taxes that could be owed by these unpatriotic fuckers. Maybe it’ll be enough to pay for a month or so of this ridiculous war we’re in. That’s right, put it to good use boys.

Yeah, yeah, I know. We’ve all heard about these foreign tax havens all of our lives. So really it’s nothing new.