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 The US has moved up the rankings of the Tax Foundation’s 2018 International Tax Competitiveness Index (ITCI), following significant reform implemented by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 (TCJA), implemented at the beginning of the year.

The ITCI measures the relative competitiveness and neutrality of each tax regime in the OECD, and concludes that countries with the lowest marginal tax rates and fewest ‘distortionary’ taxes tend to be those with the most competitive tax systems.

In the individual rankings, the US was placed 26^th for individual taxes and 28^th for property taxes, while it came 20^th in the corporate tax ranking.

The Tax Foundation described the TCJA as “the most significant tax code overhaul in over three decades,” and said on the release of this year’s ITCI: “Due to reforms made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to lower the corporate income tax rate, improve expensing of capital investments, and adjust personal income tax rates, the US improved four spots.”

Nonetheless, the Foundation pointed to areas which would improve the US’ performance in the ITCI, calling both its income tax and property tax burden “weaknesses”, and describing the international tax system as “onerous.”

Estonia has topped the Index for the fifth successive year, while France came at the bottom of the 2018 ranking.

On September 18, 2018 we posted, Former Swiss Banker Charged in $1.2 Billion Venezuelan International Money Laundering Operation where we discussed the former managing director and vice chairman of Julius Baer pleaded guilty on August 22, 2018, for his role in a $1.2 Billion international scheme to launder funds embezzled from Venezuelan state-owned oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA).

Matthias Krull, 44, a German national and Panamanian resident, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, on Aug. 22.  U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the Southern District of Florida sentenced Krull to:

• Serve 120 months in prison,
• to be followed by 3years of supervised release.
• to pay a fine in the amount of $50,000 and
• a forfeiture money judgment of $600,000.

As part of his plea, Krull admitted that in his position with the Swiss bank, he attracted private clients, particularly clients from Venezuela, to the bank.  In this role, Krull’s clients included Francisco Convit Guruceaga, who was indicted on money laundering charges on Aug. 16.  Krull’s clients also included three unnamed conspirators described in the Aug. 16 indictment.

Krull admitted that the conspiracy began in December 2014 with a currency exchange scheme that was designed to embezzle around $600 million from PDVSA, obtained through bribery and fraud and the conspirators’ efforts to launder a portion of the proceeds of that scheme.  By May 2015, the conspiracy had doubled in amount to $1.2 billion embezzled from PDVSA.  PDVSA is Venezuela’s primary source of income and foreign currency (namely, U.S. Dollars and Euros).  Krull joined the conspiracy in or around 2016, he admitted, when a co-conspirator contacted him to launder the proceeds of a PDVSA foreign-exchange embezzlement scheme.

Ultimately, Krull joined the conspiracy to launder $1.2 billion worth of funds that were embezzled from PDVSA, he admitted.  Krull and members of the money laundering conspiracy used Miami, Florida real estate and sophisticated false-investment schemes to conceal that the $1.2 billion was in fact embezzled from PDVSA.  Krull also admitted that surrounding and supporting these false-investment laundering schemes are complicit money managers, brokerage firms, banks and real estate investment firms in the United States and elsewhere, operating as a network of professional money launderers.

Krull’s co-conspirators indicted on Aug. 16 include former PDVSA officials, professional third-party money launderers and members of the Venezuelan elite, sometimes known as “boliburgués.”
An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This case is the result of ongoing efforts by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force’s (OCDETF) “Operation Money Flight,” a partnership among federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.  The OCDETF mission is to identify, investigate and prosecute high-level members of drug trafficking enterprises, bringing together the combined expertise and unique abilities of federal, state and local law enforcement.

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