I'd be surprised if Joe had an unreported offshore account.
As to Hunter, who knows. He and his uncle had 20 U.S. shell companies, probably because it looked better if a Chinese company paid "consulting fees" to an entity instead of directly to the Vice President's son and brother. Hunter did fail to report over $3 million in taxable income. He didn't file tax returns for at least three years. He evaded tax by calling income loans, and had some extremely questionable tax deductions. For example, tax deductible payments to his "West Coast assistant" who was actually a prostitute. And $10,000 for a golf club and $10,000 more for membership in a sex club. And hotel rooms for his dealer. All were tax deductions
So, Hunter was very creative with his taxes. Who among the eccie brain trust would have ever thought to deduct payments to his ATF provider from his income? If Hunter will do that, he's not above setting up hidden offshore accounts to hide income.
On the other hand, if he's not even going to file returns or pay taxes, is he financially sophisticated enough to run his "consulting fees" through offshore bank accounts? Presumably like Paul Manafort, evidence of the foreign accounts, if they existed, would surface when Hunter wired money to the USA to hand out to family members and pay for certain substances we're not able to discuss because of forum rules.
Maybe this is an example of why the judge told the two sides to go back to the drawing board. Maybe Hunter and his attorneys figured they were receiving a "get out of jail free" card if something like unreported foreign accounts and more hidden income surfaced. And the judge figured she should disabuse them of that notion.
Also, apparently Hunter figured he would escape prosecution for serving as an unregistered agent for foreigners. Now I think in general this whole unregistered agent thing to put people in jail is a sham. Manafort shouldn't have gotten a felony conviction for that. HOWEVER, if Hunter was purporting to influence peddle, by virtue of his relationship with his father, then maybe he does deserve prosecution under those statutes.
|