32 Comments on "Moving Funds Offshore"

  1. Hello,

    I read your rules regarding you give no recommendation of banks or professionals that specialize in certain tasks. I want to respect your rules so I just had one question regarding layering.

    If I’m trying to set up multiple bank accounts for layering purposes what type of professional should I seek out? For example, should I look for an accountant, a lawyer specializing in banking etc. I will be more then happy to seek out someone for myself, just wanted to know which profession I should be looking at.

    I’m looking for a specialist that I can contact in the US but I’m not a US citizen so setting up the accounts should be easy for me.

    • Hi genoa302,

      There are two types of advisers you could be looking for here. One which is aware of what you are doing and understands that it’s illegal, or multiple advisers that can introduce you to different banks each and you then set up the layering process yourself.

      The former is very difficult to find since they advertise in the open but if you do find one and they have a good reputation, they might be all you need.

      Otherwise, the latter is all about reaching out to multiple agencies, trustees, and fiduciaries. The US is particularly difficult. You would in all likelihood need a US-based attorney to help you get started there.

  2. Very interesting post. Regarding the settlement method, I have an actual (legitimate) legal settlement issue. The amount is substantial–let’s say a million US dollars. I’d like to accept and hold the settlement in the lowest possible tax jurisdiction, invest the sum at the lowest taxable jurisdiction, and live in the U.S., paying expenses with a small portion of the total and/or capital gains. The settlement is legitimate–for personal injury and property damage, neither of which are taxable as income in the U.S., though capital gains would be.

    Do you have any thoughts on strategy? And do you offer consulting to assist in forming a strategy for something like this?

    • Well, the amount is so high that there is no way to avoid that the foreign bank will report your account to US authorities under FATCA. Secrecy is out the door and so are any tax advantages (you’ll have to pay capital gains tax, for example). So with that in mind, are you sure you even want to place the funds outside of the US?

      You could probably drop by your nearest branch of an international bank (or take a trip to New York or other major city and visit them there) to open a private bank account abroad. UBS, OCBC, Credit Suisse, et cetera. For a million USD (or more) they will probably be interested.

      But chances are they will insist on opening a local wealth management account.

      I do consulting but not through the Streber persona and I cannot take on new clients this way. Only through intermediaries, whose names I cannot disclose since it could jeopardize the integrity of this structure.

  3. Hello Mr Streber

    I thank you for the very interesting infos on this site.

    I have some questions concerning this post.
    – What do you mean by “This process is repeated until your funds have hit their ultimate destination.” ? Does that mean that you create another chain of 3 new banks after the first chain you created and constitute a chain of 6 banks with an increase in secrecy laws ? OR does that mean that you use one single chain of 3 banks in 3 jurisdictions (as mentioned) to transfer a second, then third sum of money through these same banks ?

    – Why do you suggest not to use the same bank in more than one jurisdiction ?
    – Can the accounts be in my personal name (I guess if the accounts are in the name of an offshore company it is less traceable) ?

    – What do you think about bank check / cashier check for moving funds abroad ? Does a European bank accept bank check written by a foreign (also European) bank ? Is this type of transfer more discreet / less traceable than a bank transfer ? For example in the case of a EOI, can the state in jurisdiction A trace any bank check written by banks in jurisdiction A and by banks in jurisdiction B ?

    I am rather new at financial matters, hope my questions do not seem too idiotic ?
    Thank you for your time.

    • – What do you mean by “This process is repeated until your funds have hit their ultimate destination.” ? Does that mean that you create another chain of 3 new banks after the first chain you created and constitute a chain of 6 banks with an increase in secrecy laws ? OR does that mean that you use one single chain of 3 banks in 3 jurisdictions (as mentioned) to transfer a second, then third sum of money through these same banks ?

      That quote refers to continuing to move the funds into even murkier and murkier jurisdictions every step of the way. As an example: Germany > Switzerland > Hong Kong > Singapore > UAE > Turkey > Lebanon.

      – Why do you suggest not to use the same bank in more than one jurisdiction ?

      Using our example above, if you use a bank that’s for example headquartered in Germany but has a branch in Singapore, you run a risk of German authorities exercising pressure on the bank in Germany to disclose information from its Singapore branch.

      – Can the accounts be in my personal name (I guess if the accounts are in the name of an offshore company it is less traceable) ?

      They can be but if you are trying to hide money, corporate accounts are much more efficient (for now).

      – What do you think about bank check / cashier check for moving funds abroad ? Does a European bank accept bank check written by a foreign (also European) bank ? Is this type of transfer more discreet / less traceable than a bank transfer ? For example in the case of a EOI, can the state in jurisdiction A trace any bank check written by banks in jurisdiction A and by banks in jurisdiction B ?

      There is really no advantage anymore (if there ever really was one) and it can be very time-consuming and costly to clear checks across borders and regions. A lot of European banks will refuse checks entirely.

      • Thank you very much for your answers.
        “That quote refers to continuing to move the funds into even murkier and murkier jurisdictions every step of the way. As an example: Germany > Switzerland > Hong Kong > Singapore > UAE > Turkey > Lebanon.”

        I get it.
        If you have a relatively large sum of money to transfer (clean money from the sale of a house for example) do you think it preferable to fragment the sum into several transfers in particular into foreign account n°1 (Germany in your example) so as not to attract attention ? Or is it ok to send the whole sum at once to account n°1 and then through the chain (taking into account what you mentioned in your posts about avoiding to transfer more than 50% of the sum from one account into another etc…) ?
        Thank you

        • f you have a relatively large sum of money to transfer (clean money from the sale of a house for example) do you think it preferable to fragment the sum into several transfers in particular into foreign account n°1 (Germany in your example) so as not to attract attention ? Or is it ok to send the whole sum at once to account n°1 and then through the chain (taking into account what you mentioned in your posts about avoiding to transfer more than 50% of the sum from one account into another etc…) ?

          It’s all up to how you want to do it. Do you want to show a direct connection between your German and Lebanese bank accounts? Or do you want to spread it out over multiple accounts and/or channel through multiple accounts?

          Since it’s clean money, it doesn’t matter anyway. It might be that your bank asks for confirmation if you send to Lebanon but doesn’t if you send to Switzerland, but with clean money that shouldn’t be a problem.

          • Hello Mr Streber
            It IS clean money. My aim is not even to avoid to pay taxes. I just do not trust the authorities in my country (or any country) and I want to protect my money and hide my bank accounts as well as companies I may create.
            I read several times most of your posts trying to assimilate your ideas. But the implementation of the obfuscation technique is still obscure in my mind. Would you do some case study to concretely elaborate on this technique please ? For example I have 200 000 euros from the sale of my house : how would you help me accomplish my aim : what would you do with them ? How would you send them abroad and hide these assets ?
            In addition I understand the advantages of offshore accounts in the name of offshore companies. BUT isn’t there also a drawback to using them i.e you link your offshore companies directly to you when you channel funds through them (using this layering technique) ? OR are these corporate offshore accounts only used to channel funds and not for other purposes (doing business in particular) ? Even then you insisted on not leaving transit bank accounts empty so as not to draw attention. The way I see things I could create1 or 2 offshore accounts for investment purposes ; but then my original personal account (in my current country of residence) would be linked to these offshore investment accounts because I would have to channel my funds through them AND also feed these accounts.
            Thank you for your feedback.

            • It depends on what you want to achieve. Do you just want to move the money somewhere? Since you have sold a house, it shouldn’t be a problem to wire anywhere. If a bank asks any questions, just show them copies of documents that prove the sale of the house.

              If you for whatever reason don’t want to have a direct link between your Local Bank Account and your Offshore Bank Account, you can set up an intermediary bank account (or use someone’s else bank account if you trust them).

              If you want a company to control the funds, you would need to form this company and open a bank account for it. Then just wire the money to the company.

              In case you are concerned about your local bank knowing the name of your offshore company, use an intermediary account again; either in your name, a bank account belonging to someone else, or set up an intermediary shell company.

              For example:
              Offshore Company A Ltd receives the funds from you. It is owned by Offshore Company B Ltd.
              Offshore Company B Ltd receives the funds from Offshore Company A Ltd.

              In that example, it would just be a subsidiary passing the money on to its parent. You probably can’t do it right away as that may raise suspicions with the bank. Discuss with the bank and your service provider how to do it in a way that the bank is happy with

  4. Great article, I really enjoyed reading it!
    I need to send money from my Lebanese account to Greece, to purchase a house, the funds source is the sale of my wife’s real estate in the RF, which is perfectly legal and taxed. My wife is a resident of France.
    Will the Greek bank, when checking the source of funds (the sale contracts and transfers), where the name of my wife and her mother appear, notify the french authorities of this transaction at some point? (the money is going out of my account in Lebanon to my account in Greece). Will they mind that I’m transferring the money and dealing with the operation?

    Thanks!

    • Hi Jimmmy,

      Thanks for your comment!

      Due to the current tensions in the area, I am seeing higher than normal scrutiny for transactions to and from the Middle Eastern region. Rightfully so, I’d say.

      What I/we do to reduce the hassle is to seek pre-approval from the involved banks. It usually goes something like, “Hey, X hundred thousand EUR is incoming from so and so bank and so and so account number to this account. Is this OK?” Sometimes we include more details about the beneficiary like name and address.

      This can sometimes be done with normal customer service, but it usually takes a bank manager or a compliance officer.

      They might ask for proof of source of funds, but if you have pre-approval there should be virtually no risk of a report being sent to an FIU. Because if the FIU picks up on the report it can take days, weeks, longer to have the funds released or reversed.

  5. I love reading your article!

    I wonder if you will write an article on “Moving Funds ONshore” in the near future?

    It is nice to know that we can layer the money, trade and sue between companies we own. But eventually we still want to access our hard-earned money from all these exotic offshore locations.

    • Thanks for your feedback!

      I haven’t (hadn’t) planned such a post but I’ll add it to the idea list. But you basically have three options:

      1. Bank transfer directly to your onshore bank account.
      2. Use a card to spend the company’s money (ATM, point of sale).
      3. Use an advanced structure with for example a holding or investment company between yourself and the trading company.

      Again, this assumes you are doing everything correctly with all necessary reporting and paying of taxes.

  6. Gambling (online)
    -> Deposit money to a number of gambling sites; the more spread out the better. Deposit by a method which you cannot withdraw back.
    -> play

    … and then what??? You didn’t finish this one! 🙂

    • Good catch.

      And then withdraw by bank transfer or back to your offshore debit or credit card. Make sure you understand the operator’s policy on closed loops, as you may in some cases be forced to withdraw to the original source of funds (if it’s possible), which defeats the purpose here.

      • I’m a regular player at various on-line gambling sites and my experience is that only money deposited by vouchers (ukash, PSC) can be withdrawn by different payment method. But not at all places, some will send you new voucher for the money you want to withdraw. As for other payment methods, sometimes card deposits cannot be returned – but its rare.

        Anyway, understanding gambling site payout policy is essential otherwise you may just lose time and money.

        BTW
        You have worked for casino compliance? In the payment division only or in “gameplay compliance” also? Forgive me for asking, i will understand if you don’t want to/cant speak about that. 🙂

        • Payout via issuing a new Ukash or PSC voucher isn’t a closed loop so the operator doesn’t actually do anything to prevent money laundering there, like they do by forcing payout back to the same card as used for the original deposit.

          I have experience in gameplay compliance, regulatory (license) compliance, and payments/fraud management.

          • “I have experience in gameplay compliance,”

            So we could stand at opposite side of barricade at some point in the past, as I played at different casinos in a manner that was often described as ‘bonus abuse’ or ‘advantage play’. How you ever catch one of these players? 🙂

            • A lot of players make it very, very easy to catch them. I can’t disclose how they are caught, though. Let’s just say it’s very easy to catch 95% of them and very hard to catch the other 5%.

              However, increasingly, it’s less about the gameplay behaviour and more about catching the fraudster at an earlier stage – sometimes already during or even before registration.

            • If you talking about those teens trying to make buck or two chasing no deposit bonuses then i agree they are easy to spot. My guess is that 5% make bigger damage then the whole 95%. Am i right? 🙂

            • It depends on how you calculate it.

              Since the 95% are caught before any loss is incurred, they only cost the man hours invested in analysis and fine-tuning the systems. An analyst salary in most igaming jurisdiction is quite modest. The 5% are not caught and they do incur a direct financial loss, so they obviously cause bigger damage

              If we put a financial value on each fraudster, there isn’t a big difference. The 5%, who know how to get around the systems, are also smart enough to not go for high values. Instead, they will spread themselves out across multiple operators. The average financial value per fraudster does not differ much between the 95% and 5%.

            • The 5% are smart enough to know how to take advantage of weakness that can be find in gambling business (sportsbook, casino). If weakness is found it will be exploited until business owner see big red numbers in is return. I remember casino called BetAt (start up) which lose about €400k before it realise its reward programme was to easy to beat for professional players. Guess they under valued importance of this aspect of its business model. They almost gave up because they didn’t know what’s going on …. this 5% is very dangerous.

              Do you think casino operators would be interested in service that help them deal with this type of dangerous?

            • There are already suppliers that provide those services. The problem is that they cost too much for the little guys. So, yes, sure – You might be able to find a niche for yourself as a security and fraud vulnerability consultant in the igaming sector if you target smaller operators.

  7. Paypal would charge the 3% currency conversion fee to all accounts that belongs to a country that doesnt have USD as its national currency. That is what makes this so cumbersome

    What one tries to achieve is to get the money, after all those trips, back to its original destiation, disguised in other sums(larger or smaller) than was originally sent of European country A. Assume you only have personal accounts, is that even remotely possible, without setting off alarms?

    • As long as the funds on the original PayPal account have a legitimate source, it shouldn’t be a problem. If the income is not declared and taxed already, you will probably have to do so. You might want to seek out a local tax adviser to see if there’s anything you can do to lower your tax burden.

      However, if it’s funds of an illegal origin, it probably won’t work out too well in the long run. Banks in most reputable jurisdictions will have controls in place to pick up on this and file an SAR/STR with the FIU.

  8. Thank you once more for sharing your knowledge, very resourceful

    Say you have money stuck/at hostage with Paypal, in usd, in European country A. You want to get the money out, in your local currency, as cost effective as possible, without causing any trouble from the banks

    To withdraw the money, one has to pay paypal a straight 3% currency conversion fee and on top of their rip-off fx rates, net 5% stolen. With big withdrawals, its frustrating to say the least.

    Say you open a non-resident US bank account, to avoid the fees(americans are not hit by these exorbitant fees) and link it with a new US paypal account. Inter-paypal transfers are free. Say you transfer $100k from your european paypal to your american paypal, then to your american bank.

    How can one get all money, or almost all, back to european country B, asap, without setting off alarms from compliance etc, using obfuscation method?

    Month 1 – 50k wire transfer, 50k left balance
    month 2 – 25k wire, 25k left balance
    month 3 – 12.5 wire, 12.5 left balance
    month 4 – 6.25k wire, 6.25k left

    and so on, is that the way to go?
    … or would you recommend other steps?

    Thanks

    • So the money will go from a PayPal account in Europe to a PayPal account in the US to a bank account in the US to a European bank account?

      Can’t you withdraw the funds in USD to a bank account in Europe? That would probably be the easiest. You can open USD accounts with virtually any European bank.

      Going by your original set-up, there are a few things to keep in mind.

      The first is that obfuscation doesn’t work when transferring funds from offshore (in this case the US) to onshore (Europe) because the compliance you want to avoid is at the funds’ final destination. Unless the European bank account belongs to a company; more on that later.

      Second, if you are transferring to a personal account in Europe, the bank will be on the look-out for anything that deviates from what’s normal behaviour on your account. If you make 5,000 EUR a month and then suddenly get a 20,000 EUR wire from the US, your bank might not react right away, but the next time it happens they will.

      What you would need in that case is proof that the funds do belong to you. If you live in a tax aggressive jurisdiction, the bank will likely have to notify the tax authorities.

      Something I’ve seen done that may or may not be doable in your case is to form a legal entity in the relevant country (US), which then buys the entire operation from you or you become a director of the company. This provides an explanation for why the funds need to be shifted from Europe to US in PayPal.

      This company can in turn be owned by a holding or investment company in Europe, which will be the recipient of net profits from the US company.

      The funds can then be transferred to Europe without any tax (if structured correctly – speak to a lawyer who understands your local relevant laws). What you do then is up to you, but if you plan to spend the money without committing a crime, you will likely have to pay tax at some point.

      Again, though, the easiest would be to just open a USD account in Europe and transfer funds to that account.

  9. I have a question regarding obsfucation. If I transfer the money between several bank accounts using SWIFT, how effective will it be? If SWIFT’s records are accessed do I still have privacy regarding what is the trail of the money?

    Thanks.

    • The article is written with the assumption that the funds are already taxed and declared. This means your adversary should not be a government body, which can access SWIFT’s network. Layering here would be used to protect assets from other hostile interests.

      SWIFT transfers to and from corporate accounts contain the name and address of the company. If at some point a personal account is involved, your name will indeed appear in SWIFT’s records.

      Even if your name appears, if you do the layer very dilligently (different amounts, no clear pattern, a lot of layers, and using different channels/tunnels) it becomes quite tedious to map out the transfer.

  10. Brilliant. Enjoyed reading, thanks

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