France fines UBS €3.7b for helping rich French residents launder more than €10b

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/02/24/milk-tickets.html

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Why aren’t they fining UBS more than 10B euro? Anything less would mean UBS profited regardless?

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And know they know exactly how much it costs to launder money in France. So next time their profits will be even better.

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I was thinking how the fact the Swiss federation don’t being in the EU make it really hard to eliminate that kind of fiscal paradise bullshit. And apply fines.
Then I remember how much worst it will be after Brexit and a country desperate to compensate for all its losses. And the UK already have a rich history of tax evasion and fiscal paradise.

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Reminder that “punishable by a fine” equals “legal if you’re rich enough”.

None of these bastards are going to prison, and all of them will still be unimaginably wealthy.

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UBS didn’t profit by 10bn- that was the sum they helped to launder. France can now presumably use the evidence gathered here to go after the individuals who avoided taxes on that 10bn, and prosecute and fine them as well.

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Even if this was the end of Swiss money laundering, and I wouldn’t hold my breath, there will always be some other nation or state with weak regulation and corrupt government. Even if regulators could drive the launderers to places like Sealand, a certain amount of loss is counted as the proce of doing business. And truthfully, if you’ve stolen billions of dollars, do you mind losing 20% to keep the rest in the clear?

Yep. That’s the only reason they are doing it that anyone can see. The Nationalists aren’t going to get any of the racial purity they were sort-of promised. No-one else gets anything at all.

There is still a small chance that this Big Money .vs. everyone else struggle could end badly for Big Money in the UK. Fingers crossed.

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Aha ah ah…
I wish.

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Tax havens have to be in generally recognised jurisdictions. Unrecognised microstates like Sealand are useless, because the combination of low (or zero) taxes and normal relations with the outside world (allowing money to flow in and out and companies to do business internationally) is what makes tax havens possible.

You can’t deposit money in a bank in Sealand or have your Sealand company buy property in London, because in the opinion of HMRC and the IRS, etc, Sealand does not exist.

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Well, there goes the stereotype of the idyllic, pastoral, innocence of ‘milkmaids’.

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More to the point, who’s going to make them give your money back when you want it?

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That’s why you hire Blackwater.

How you get it back from Blackwater is another question.

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Here’s hoping UBS share price drops enough to significantly piss off their shareholders

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I’m a bit irked that the most important part of this article was reduced to one measly sentence: “UBS says it will appeal the French decision.”

You bet they will, and it is a safe bet that that €3.7b fine will be quietly whittled down to something that is a mere tenth of that figure. Long story short; the bureaucracy wants (and will get) a cut and all the important players will keep their hands clean and their bodies out of prison by handing over a bag of cash.

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Peer Steinbrueck:
“…the 7th cavalry of Fort Yuma that you may deploy. The cavalry need not necessarily ride out: The Indians only need to know that it is there.”

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The havens are all under the protection of some major power.

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That’s why you hire covert operations.

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