Considering the art angle from the 4chan posts: What a great way to hide money and make it legit. That was the beauty of the Mafia owning casinos. They could take money from illegal sources (loan sharking, numbers operations, shake downs, prostitution, and drugs - yes, they all sold drugs) and then bring it to the casino. All the cash is instantly washed.
Cartels pay mega bucks every year to wash their cash around the world. A major U.S. bank paid a multi-hundred million dollar fine for participating.
Back to art. Who can say what 'art' is worth? Or what a legitimate bid on art is? Just do a package deal (kids with the art) and you instantly made it a legal business transaction and can then spend the money as you want - after paying your taxes, of course.
“The tax laws in art make it basically legal to not pay taxes on art. If you’re a serious art buyer, you just get a good tax accountant,” former New York-based art consultant Beth Fiore tells Hopes&Fears. “If you show newly purchased works in certain museums then you never have to pay taxes on it.” Edward Winkleman of Winkleman Gallery maintains that his gallery keeps fastidious records of all transactions and pays taxes even on cash sales. But he admits that, “the state generally wouldn't question what is reported.” He also tells us that individual sales don’t need to be reported, only the totals for each quarter. Hypothetically, someone could buy millions of dollars worth of art without the IRS knowing, and then later sell those works for a “legitimate” profit that looks clean on taxes.
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MeatballPizza ago
Considering the art angle from the 4chan posts: What a great way to hide money and make it legit. That was the beauty of the Mafia owning casinos. They could take money from illegal sources (loan sharking, numbers operations, shake downs, prostitution, and drugs - yes, they all sold drugs) and then bring it to the casino. All the cash is instantly washed.
Cartels pay mega bucks every year to wash their cash around the world. A major U.S. bank paid a multi-hundred million dollar fine for participating.
Back to art. Who can say what 'art' is worth? Or what a legitimate bid on art is? Just do a package deal (kids with the art) and you instantly made it a legal business transaction and can then spend the money as you want - after paying your taxes, of course.
AFriend ago
Exactly. Look at this shit hole:
http://r2.washingtoncitypaper.com/files/base/scomm/wcp/image/2013/07/640w/blogs_artsdesk_files_2013_07_transformer.jpg
How is it pulling in over half a million/year?
http://www.hopesandfears.com/hopes/culture/art/214699-guide-to-laundering-money-art
MeatballPizza ago
Art collection. Remember Tony Podesta has a 1300 piece art collection....
RexAxisMundi ago
Pedoesta is using his interest in art to launder his money. No way to prove that though.