Double Bullet Proof Asset Protection
Posted By: Panama Expertos on 11.12.2009
Views: 436, Published in sections: Panama-Expertos ::
Our law firm has researched many different ways to protect your assets from financial enemies. Many are quite simple, but are successful means of asset protection. Here were introduce worst-case scenarios in which you desperately need to protect your assets and have left out elaborate details to make this as easy to read as possible.
Bullet Proof Asset Protection - The first step in this scenario is to form an anonymous Panama Bearer Share Corporation. There is no owner listed and the stockholders are whoever owns the physical stock certificates. In this case it will be a Panama Private Interest Foundation. The Foundations also do not have owners by Panama law, only beneficiaries and a protector. This is the entity that will be the shareholder. This provides you with the very legitimate defense of not being the owner of either the either.
Thus, if any official ever were to ask if you were ever the owner or shareholder of XYZ corporation, you can say "no," and it would be the truth. If you ever had to admit that you once owned the corporation, partially or wholly, you only spur their interest. You want to avoid having to admit this and make them think they have only reached a dead end - which they have.
Bullet Proof Asset Protection Banking - The Corporation and Foundation do not have to use the same bank for their bank accounts, though they can do this and use online banking to send money back and forth without having to create a wire or check trail. The greater part of the money should be kept in the foundation account because the first place anybody would look for the money is in the corporate account. It would take months or years to find out about the Foundation and, of course, it would then be your decision to move the funds around or not.
Further, a private wire system exists within Panama and includes Panama banks only. This allows you to send money back and forth between Panama banks without using the international wire system. Plus, since it's all within Panama, it's all then protected by Panama bank secrecy laws. It's even possible for Foundations to avoid having a bank account in any country.
Double Bullet Proof Asset Protection - The next level of asset protection is as follows. It begins in the same way, with a Panama Bearer Share Corporation owned by a Panama Foundation and you have the same defense, that, no, you are not the owner of any of those entities. What you do not tell them is that these entities do not have owners because that was not the question. You should not answer questions that weren't asked. This is where most attorneys will reach a dead end. They were never taught Panamanian law, after all. But if the person asking the question happens to understand these laws pertaining to the offshore world, they would then ask you if you are a beneficiary of either entity. This is your answer: "As far as I know, my name is not listed as a beneficiary of this Foundation." Another good thing to include is that any person could be listed as a beneficiary and this person be ignorant of the fact. This happens frequently in wills. If it were possible to punish a listed beneficiary for having this happen to them, many presidents, politicians, and public figures would appear as beneficiaries of Foundations all over the world.
If, at this point, the questions continue, say that they should ask the Foundation these questions. The lawyer will have to deal with this, and that is the catch. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. You should never say that you are a beneficiary because they will contend that the whole structure is just a straw man setup, meaning a fraudulent way to control these assets and yet not actually own them. We don't mean to say that this will hold up in court, just that it's something they can try. After all, your name is not in the public registry nor on any documents that they would have access to.
But wait, it gets better. We can form a second foundation for you that is the beneficiary of the first (the shareholder of the corporation). And so, if you are questioned, you would not be asked if you were the beneficiary of the second foundation (which you could be), only the first. In this way, you are still answering honestly in court or on the record and are even more protected.
Asset Protection Bank Signatory Considerations - Another question that you could eventually be asked is if you are the signatory of the corporate bank account or a Foundation's bank account.
One thing that we can do is form a custom agreement that will make you an employee of the corporation of foundation. It will describe compensation, duties such as accounting and being the signatory on the account as part of the job, and other responsibilities. The nominee directors or nominee council members will sign and notarize this document, and apostille it if necessary. It is common with major corporations for the signatories for the corporation to not actually be the owners. For example, if General Motors was being sued and an accounting manager was the signatory on the account, this manager would not be personally liable for the General Motors Corporation. Think about this structure. You don't own either structure and, as part of your job, you sign on the account. Welcome to Panama.
Asset Protection Banking Weak Links - The breaking point in this scheme will always be the money trail, more specifically, the signatory on the account. Anything in your home country will be open for evidence, usually after only flimsy accusations. If a lawyer was able to subpoena your bank records, it will soon become obvious that you have been sending money to an offshore account. This can also become public record, so it's wise to fight to get these records sealed.
So now what? They will be onto the trail and your defense is significantly wounded. An effective way to guard against this is to use an attorney-client trust account. Using one of the Guatemala Law Firm bank account provides a very high level of security and protects against any kind of tax information exchange agreements being signed with the United States by either of these countries. As your Guatemalan law firm, we create a private Trust Agreement with you that protects both you and us. The money can then be moved from this account to another bank account in another bank or country, as per your wishes. We buy real estate, financial instruments, boats, etc., for you with this money.
A secure way to do this is to have a bank account in the same bank as the trust account so that money can be sent without using an international wire system. You can send wires with your corporate account's online banking, credit cards, debit cards, etc. Inquiries about the money sent to a law firm could be answered with "attorney client privilege." To obtain this information attorney-client privilege would need to be broken in a Guatemalan court. This would not happen unless there was serious evidence against you that you committed a crime that is a criminal offense in Guatemala. For example, murder, kidnapping. Tax issues are civil cases in Guatemala. Burden of proof is on the inquiring party, not the judge, who is a neutral party, and not you. It is a dead end case, especially if they cannot get the evidence lawfully.
Additional Protections - A Confidentiality Agreement is a private document between you and the corporation and foundation. It forbids you from revealing information about said entities under penalty a one million dollar judgment. This is enough for a Panamanian court to enter a summary judgment against you for this amount as well as prosecute you for breeching this agreement. You can show this document to a court of law if questioned. They cannot force you to expose yourself in this way by international law. Only Panamanian courts could grant you immunity, not any other country. You could say that you would sue the prosecuting lawyer if he tries to compel you to break this contract and will collect damages from his malpractice carrier. The last two words are the key words here. He knows that his rates will rise and they may refuse to do business with him entirely. He will likely judge that it's not worth it to do the research and get himself out of it, if he could even do that. It's not uncommon to see international lawyers charge more than $600 per hour. Add this to the cost of an opinion, and the legal fees are jumping into six figures.
People protect themselves first and foremost and he will either take stop questioning you about this or take a different direction, both at the expense of his client. This was our goal all along.
As for the judge, he is also liable to be sued in the Hague Court and you are free to say this. Judges have some measure of immunity, but they still cannot violate international law. However, nobody wants to turn a judge against him so this should only be used in real desperation. We would like to stress that you are not lying when you say any of this, and we always recommend that you go into a situation such as this one with a lawyer.
Panama Foundation Asset Management Considerations - There are other things necessary take into consideration to properly manage your assets.
First, there is a person called a Protector of a Panama Foundation. This person is an overseer who protects the interests of the Foundation and has no power to act in the name of the Foundation, though they do have veto power. It is possible to include in the foundation charter that the Foundation cannot act without authorization from the Protector. Again, the protector doesn't have the control over the Foundation but it can be set up so that he must approve everything. One possible scenario is as follows: you are the investment manager, a simple employee of the Foundation, and yet also, behind the curtains, the Foundation Protector, in essence requiring yourself to give approval of actions you take in the name of the Foundation. The protector is a private position that is extremely difficult to find since its not in any database.
Similarly, the charter can also state that council members must have authorization from the Founder to act. We can provide a nominee Founder if you wish and act with your direction from day one.
Finally, the Panama Foundation's assets do not have the risk of being frozen unless the foundation itself violated a contract or some other illegal action. To get this to happen, the leaseholder would present the lease and make a statement that the Foundation neglected to pay, say how much it is, how many times it happened, etc., and a bond would be posted. Assets of equal amount to the debt would be frozen. We always recommend that the Foundation never perform actions such as sign a contract and simply be a holding entity. This is the most secure way to operate.
Please ask us if you have any more questions. We do customize asset protection strategies. Call us and discuss your needs and we can offer suggestions.
For additional information on this subject go to:
Panama Bearer Share Corporations
Bookmark Properties
