Post by RS Davis on Jun 23, 2004 15:45:17 GMT -5
COMMENT: Threats to Your Wealth
Dear A-Letter Reader:
I am writing to you today from Zurich, Switzerland, one of the banking
capitals of the world. Yesterday I talked with attorneys and bankers in
neighboring Liechtenstein, a principality with strict financial privacy -- the
kind of privacy no longer available in America.
Visiting these leading offshore financial centers got me to thinking about
real asset protection. If you need a convincing reason to move some or
all of your assets and financial activity offshore, the threat of US civil asset
forfeiture should be sufficient.
The so-called "war on drugs" certainly hasn't stopped drug trafficking, but
it has changed reality for the innocent. Today, no US person is safe from
police property seizures under civil asset forfeiture powers that are at the
heart of the anti-drug campaigns. And these powers were expanded
under the PATRIOT Act in the latest new excuse, "the war on terrorism."
If you think the Bill of Rights will protect you from property forfeiture,
think again! During the last 15 years police confiscation of private property
has grown into a multi-billion dollar America scandal. Since the early 1980's,
using the excuse of the failed "war against drugs," federal, state and local
police have confiscated cash and property of every sort valued at nearly
US$10 billion. Cash in bank accounts, stocks and bonds are favorite police
targets, along with coveted real estate for police use or resale.
This blatant police grab occurs because of extraordinary powers codified
into statutory law by US politicians eager to appear "tough on crime."
It's called "civil asset forfeiture" and property owners beware!
Civil forfeiture allows the judicial taking of property, not based on evidence
"beyond a reasonable doubt," but based merely on police accusations.
No due process is afforded an accused owner, who must prove his innocence.
That's yet another reason you should consider putting some of your asset
offshore in safe places such as Zurich or Liechtenstein.
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
(I recieved this in email)
Dear A-Letter Reader:
I am writing to you today from Zurich, Switzerland, one of the banking
capitals of the world. Yesterday I talked with attorneys and bankers in
neighboring Liechtenstein, a principality with strict financial privacy -- the
kind of privacy no longer available in America.
Visiting these leading offshore financial centers got me to thinking about
real asset protection. If you need a convincing reason to move some or
all of your assets and financial activity offshore, the threat of US civil asset
forfeiture should be sufficient.
The so-called "war on drugs" certainly hasn't stopped drug trafficking, but
it has changed reality for the innocent. Today, no US person is safe from
police property seizures under civil asset forfeiture powers that are at the
heart of the anti-drug campaigns. And these powers were expanded
under the PATRIOT Act in the latest new excuse, "the war on terrorism."
If you think the Bill of Rights will protect you from property forfeiture,
think again! During the last 15 years police confiscation of private property
has grown into a multi-billion dollar America scandal. Since the early 1980's,
using the excuse of the failed "war against drugs," federal, state and local
police have confiscated cash and property of every sort valued at nearly
US$10 billion. Cash in bank accounts, stocks and bonds are favorite police
targets, along with coveted real estate for police use or resale.
This blatant police grab occurs because of extraordinary powers codified
into statutory law by US politicians eager to appear "tough on crime."
It's called "civil asset forfeiture" and property owners beware!
Civil forfeiture allows the judicial taking of property, not based on evidence
"beyond a reasonable doubt," but based merely on police accusations.
No due process is afforded an accused owner, who must prove his innocence.
That's yet another reason you should consider putting some of your asset
offshore in safe places such as Zurich or Liechtenstein.
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
(I recieved this in email)
