Offshore bank accounts - experience?

bluebuddha

bluebuddha

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Apr 11, 2008
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I'm dealing with a product to be shipped/sold in Europe. This product is illegal (well, technically it's legal, but it cannot be sold w/o approval) in the US and so I would like to avoid having any part of the business here. (I'm in NYC.)

I have the domain/host down. Site is running.. but last step - I need to take payments before it can go live.

Ideally I'd have somebody in the country who can accept payments. At the very least it would increase payment options for my customers (Western Union, etc) but this isn't possible at this time.

I'm thinking about just accepting bank transfers and having that routed to a US account. I was trying to do this years ago and I recall that I can just sign up online/by phone, get my info approved/verified, and pay the setup fees. What say you?
 


Just make a EU corp and a get a processor with EU presence

That won't protect you from any legal obligations but it will allow you to bill it
 
I set up a company in Hong Kong. Had to go there to meet accountant/bank etc, I'm doing something kind of similar to what you want to be doing, PM me if you want to chat more.
 
Something's unclear to me; is the product tangible or virtual?

Second... a lot of export-restricted items [arms/encryption/supercomputing] from the US can be found with relative ease in the Macedonia/Ukraine region...
 
My company has an offshore merchant account in Iceland and our company is incorporated in the EU. This way you will be able to process the payment and the money will be wired into the US. PM Me for the processor's info.
 
supersundas said:
Get an offshore merchant account in Panama, they dont give a fuck. In addition, due to the Free Trade Agreement, you will get tax benefits
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MTorrino said:
My company has an offshore merchant account in Iceland and our company is incorporated in the EU. This way you will be able to process the payment and the money will be wired into the US. PM Me for the processor's info.
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If he's doing something illegal in the US and has a US presence (which hes alluded to), it doesn't matter what an offshore countries rules/regulations are, if the US finds out what hes doing and doesn't like it, he'll still get fucked by the courts. Getting the money back into the states will leave a papertrail that can easily be audited. Do you really think the government is gonna just throw in the towel when they see a guy in NY is operating an illegal company in the states just because his corp/bank account is in Belize? Best bet is to talk to a couple of corporate/asset protection lawyers, but most of those will AT BEST give you ways to reduce the risk of getting popped...no lawyer worth their salt will be able to give you anything ironclad.
 
As a side note, anyone who thinks that operating offshore is the key to operating a shady business in the states should follow the Jesse Willms/Justhink case very closely. The guy had a huge web of offshore companies that he was running his rebill offers through and enough money to hire the best criminal/corporate attorneys out there, and still is involved in a number of ongoing criminal/civil cases. He's most likely screwed on the criminal case (RICO charges...the full complaint is floating around somewhere...think uber or barman posted it on their blogs). On the civil side, just cause his money is in offshore banks, if he loses the lawsuits and the government knows where his money is and just can't legally get it (due to asset haven laws), he could actually face criminal charges of contempt of court by not repatriating his assets.
 
If you want a european english speaking tax free presence you may want to looking up setting a company up in Jersey. (The island that comes under the UK's protection, not the State obv)
 
bluebuddha said:
This product is illegal (well, technically it's legal, but it cannot be sold w/o approval) in the US and so I would like to avoid having any part of the business here. (I'm in NYC.)
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I read this to mean that he's not going to sell to US consumers but to European consumers where - I'm guessing - it's legal.

OP - can you clarify things a bit so that this doesn't turn into a huge legal discussion about your product.
 
They key is not to own the company but be employed by them. Keep all the money off shore and pay yourself salery.
 
BigWill said:
They key is not to own the company but be employed by them. Keep all the money off shore and pay yourself salery.
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Right, but the only way that the 'owner' of the company would be protected would be if he lived in a country that was exempt from US laws, and it'd be foolish to trust anyone who's unreachable by US laws (to protect your own interests) to own a multi-million dollar company. Whats to stop them from going 'O wow...will's making MY company in MY name millions of dollars every year and he's only paying me how much? Hmmm....' Good luck trying to fight that in court if he decides to screw you.
 
illeat said:
Right, but the only way that the 'owner' of the company would be protected would be if he lived in a country that was exempt from US laws, and it'd be foolish to trust anyone who's unreachable by US laws (to protect your own interests) to own a multi-million dollar company.
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Do any of you have a list of the "unreachable" countries?
 
eVanadals.. i think pretty much any country these days is "reachable" by the US, but keep in mind some countries just don't care and move at a much slower pace. Also if im doing something in the US, but its not illegal where im living/staying (say Costa Rica) the US CANNOT extradite me back. The #1 reason people get busted is they go back to the US and get arrested at the airport as soon as they step off the plane.

Country list (FEEL FREE TO ADD TO IT)..in none of these countries will anyone come get you.

Costa Rica
Panama
Guatemala
Cuba
Dominican Rep.

I lived in Costa Rica & Panama when i was 19-23... so I know first hand what it's like..Nobody is going down to Costa Rica to get you unless and i mean unless you do something VERY VERRRRRRRRRRRRRY bad.
 
eVandals said:
Do any of you have a list of the "unreachable" countries?
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Without knowing exactly what the OP is trying to setup and what the laws are involving that setup (and wf is prolly not the best spot for him to post this info to), it'll be impossible for anyone to give any solid advice on where/how he should setup his business (other than, TALK TO A LAWYER). Anyone saying incorporate in Panama/Caymans/Cypress/etc because they 'don't give a fuck' is a moron and has clearly never been in a situation where their corporate/financial structures have been challenged.

In regards to eVandals question, it really depends on what you want to be 'unreachable' from. For example, if your looking to just protect yourself from a simple civil lawsuit or something like that, having money in the UK or Canada should be sufficient enough without making you look like your trying to launder money/evade taxes (which is what a court will automatically assume if you have money stashed in some tiny island in the Caymans or South America).

Like High-Per said, no country is really unreachable. Up until a few months ago, everyone assumed Swiss Banks were untouchable and we all saw hold that turned out.
 
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