BAIN, Romney, Spooks and Death Squads

[Octafish]

Seems Mitt's investors made a killing.



Remains of a child, El Mozote. Joseph Cannon via Dave Emory provides the briefing:

Bain, Romney, spooks and death squads

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Vanity Fair and The Nation have published some new and disturbing information about Bain and Romney's hidden financial assets. I also strongly advise you to read this piece at Skydancing.

Josh Marshall describes the new information as "Kryptonite."

I’ll just say it: I don’t think the political pundit class understands just how toxic the Swiss/Caymans/Bermuda accounts issue is for Romney. Not that they don’t know it’s a liability at all. But I don’t think they realize the extent of it.
Ironically, Marshall himself probably will not get at the full truth, although he may well print more of it than others will. A writer in his position can go only so far.

The question before us is a simple one: What is Bain? This post won't offer a definitive answer, but it will offer a starting point to anyone who wants to research a startling possibility: Bain began life as a money laundry for the CIA.

Romney's hidden loot. First, let's summarize the summary offered by Ben Adler of The Nation:

What is in Romney’s offshore accounts? He has sheltered much of his wealth in tax havens such as Bermuda, but he has not disclosed anything about those investments.

The man has hidden his money from the tax collector very assiduously, and may well be even more affluent than most now believe. (His wealth is currently estimated to be $250 million.)

Why is Romney still being paid by Bain Capital? He left the firm more than ten years ago. Given its varied investments, could the fact that he is still being paid by them create a conflict of interest in office? Shaxson writes, “Though he left the firm in 1999, Romney has continued to receive large payments from it—in early June he revealed more than $2 million in new Bain income.

The money is coming from offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands.

Why has Romney opened foreign bank accounts, such as a Swiss account with $3 million that appeared on his 2010 returns but not his 2011 returns?

Romney has a $102 million Individual Retirement Account. No-one has any clear idea as to how someone could amass that kind of IRA. Wikipedia confirms that, during the years Mitt was with Bain,

...the Economic Recovery Tax Act (ERTA)...raised the maximum annual contribution to $2,000 and allowed participants to contribute $250 on behalf of a nonworking spouse.

The limit is up to $5000 now. Sorry, but $102 million just seems out of the question.

CONTINUED w/LINKS...

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2012/07/bain-romney-spooks-and-death-squads.html

So what if the secret Swiss bank accounts of Bain clientele hold loot gathered for the masters of death squads? Time to move on, people. Besides, people want to know what else is new, besides the Kinder Gentler Reverse Robin Hood Machine Gun Hand.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. I guess Romney thinks because Reagan got away with Iran contra so can he

no smoke without fire!

[Octafish]

2. The audacity of the financial and political elite is getting obvious.

Congress let Pruneface Ronnie off the hook for Iran-Contra because they thought Poppy Doc Bush was worse. What a mistake. The presidential pardon meant that Reagan, Poppy Bush, Smirko McCokespoon Bush -- and Nixon the Crook before them -- and all their cronies stashed throughout Washington, Langley, Wall Street and wherever would be free to keep their various corruptions and conspiracies safe from prying eyes, including regulators. Things become absolutely un-democratic when one throws in the ever increasing amount of stuff that gets classified Top Secret or whatever, known only to a select compartmentalized few of the 4.8 million authorized to look at it, it gets really difficult for 295 million We the People not so privileged to know how our tax dollars are being used.

[Downwinder]

3. Must always consider the religious significance of Central America.

Book of Mormon Lands

http://www.israelrevealed.com/bom-exp02.htm

[Octafish]

8. Bain Capital started with help of offshore investors

Mixing business and the pulpit seems very GOP these days.

Bain Capital started with help of offshore investors

Mitt Romney's firm raised more than a third of its first investment fund from wealthy foreigners — who mostly used companies in Panama, then known for tax advantages and banking secrecy.

By Joseph Tanfani, Melanie Mason and Matea Gold
Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2012 Washington Bureau

EXCERPT...

About $9 million came from rich Latin Americans, including powerful Salvadoran families living in Miami during their country's brutal civil war.

SNIP...

At the time, U.S. officials were publicly accusing some exiles in Miami of funding right-wing death squads in El Salvador. Some family members of the first Bain Capital investors were later linked to groups responsible for killings, though no evidence indicates those relatives invested in Bain or benefited from it.

SNIP...

But when Romney and his partners started the firm, Bain & Co. founder Bill Bain — worried the new venture could fail — barred them from soliciting current clients or corporations that would have to publicly disclose the investment, according to an early Bain Capital employee.

SNIP...

David Lyons said that wealthy Europeans like his father often invested through offshore shell corporations. "It allowed some confidentiality," he said. "It allowed a lot of things."

SNIP...

The group included some of El Salvador's wealthiest people: coffee grower Miguel A. Dueñas; members of the De Sola family, also coffee exporters; and Ricardo Poma, whose family conglomerate now owns car dealerships and luxury hotels across Central America. Other investors included Frank Kardonski, who co-founded the Panama Stock Exchange, and Diego Ribadeneira, now Ecuador'sambassador to Peru.

CONTINUED...

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/19/nation/la-na-bain-creation-20120719

Thank you for the fascinating information, Downwinder. The folks at Bain seem to put the inside into insiders in the most insidious of ways.

PS: Love the dog on wheels. Reminds me of this time on Helior...

[Betty Jo]

10. ARE YOU MORMON?

What a hoot that link was ! It's along side the whole DNA American Indian-Israli debunked stufff in my head.

[pacalo]

4. If such an inept, unpolished, crass misfit as Bush could be maneuvered into the White House

for two terms, anything's possible with those people.

I was most surprised about the tidbit of information about a well-known liberal -- I choose not to use his name -- having a CIA background.

[burrowowl]

5. K&R!!!!!

[Overseas]

6. Hadn't thought about how when the story is all about What He Won't Release

It is not about the damning details in what he already has released. Shifting the focus.

[Quantess]

7. Bookmarked for later.

Thanks for posting it.

[Betty Jo]

9. AMERICAN AND ISRALI INTELLIGENCE $$$$$

The Cannonfire link at the end talks about Bain being set up to help launder American and Israli intelligence money for paramilitary and covert actions.I've posted here on DU about Romney and Netanyahu both being Harvard Business Grads along with Ortig Gadiesh who was a Bain director.She is the daughter of a famous Israli Defense Force General.She herself was an Intelligence Officer for IDF.The whole Romney/Israel /Mormon trail is very interesting.