This is all very compelling, definitely a bit chilling. So honestly I was debating for a while if I even wanted to share this because I don't know if it is relevant, but here goes. My friend was talking to me about these "blueray cordless headphones" he bought from a random seller on eBay a few days ago and when he got the package it was pretty sketchy looking (but thats besides that point) I guess he found out through his own ways that they obviously had other accounts selling items for insanely high prices. But he would basically sell a tablet for a quarter to a certain buyer (I'm assuming?) then the buyer would put the tablet back up for so much money and the guy buys it back. He sent me a link to the price of one of the pricey tablets (approx 3,000 USD) If you go to the seller's store EVERYTHING is like 2,000-3,000 USD; even baby toys! Could this possibly have something to do with this? Or maybe this is money laundering?
Yes. It's common in the art world as well. For larger transaction values, you need an art gallery, or perhaps a foundation.
So the reasonable deduction from all of this rampant and unfounded hypothesizing I found myself engaging in was this: people are using this "art" to evade the tax man. It's simple: I sell you this bag of dog waste that Damien Koons scooped up from the gutter in the Bowery which is so relevant and your insurance agent assesses it at $1,000,000 and you have an instant non-taxable commodity. Okay - maybe it's taxable - but it's "art" so it falls through all kinds of loop holes. Then you turn around two years later and pass it onto your "friend" who happens to have an apartment in TriBeCa you want to buy. You two strike a deal in which you transfer the now famous bag of dog excrement to your friend for three million dollars and he sells you the apartment at a steep discount for one million. He saves on capital gains, you get a $4,000,000 apartment for $1,000,000; he owns the perceived value of the dogshit container, and your apartment is still worth four million on the books.
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spez_dispenser ago
Yes. It's common in the art world as well. For larger transaction values, you need an art gallery, or perhaps a foundation.
http://www.jessewaugh.com/blog/2013/4/6/gaming-belief