James S. Henry
The denizens of the global underground economy are as diverse as they are colorful: incredibly wealthy tax evaders with megamansions, 200-foot yachts, and $45 million private jets; arms dealers and mercenaries; drug-dealing warlords; art forgers and art thieves; Russian oligarchs, Russian mobsters, and Chechnyan terrorists; the Saudi Royal family and their mujahideen arch-enemies; smugglers, interrogators, assassins, con artists and fraudsters of all description; more than a few corrupt First and Third World politicians, judges, dictators, generals; and even a prelate or two. Despite their diversity, all these players share the same basic financial concerns for their stocks of anonymous private wealthâ€”at last count, worth more than $5 trillionâ€”against the threats posed by prosecutors, tax men, kidnappers, and each other.,Fortunately for this Noahâ€™s Ark of subterranean characters, a sophisticated network has grown up to deliver precisely these services. This global "pirate banking" system now conceals the riches of the worldâ€™s wealthiest people and largest corporations as well as many of its worst villains. They are all citizens of a brave new virtual countryâ€”one that lacks a physical location, but offers them freedom from most taxes, laws, and moral restraints.
Pirate Bankers: First-Hand Investigations of Private Banking, Capital Flight, Corruption, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion, Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime, Terror Banking, and the Continuing Global Development Crisis