[lbo-talk] Tax avoidance: now even more fashionable

Sean Andrews cultstud76 at gmail.com
Wed Jun 19 21:07:18 PDT 2013


I'm reminded of David Cay Johnston's description of Apple's tax strategy (on Behind the News a few weeks back) as I read of what Dolce and Gabbana are accused of doing in Italy:

'The judge ruled that the pair sold their brand to Luxembourg-based holding
> company Gado in 2004 to avoid declaring taxes on royalties of about 1
> billion euros ($1.3 billion).
> 'Public prosecutor Laura Pedio told the court in her closing arguments
> that the designers were "well aware that they would reap a tax advantage
> from this transaction."
> 'Gado is nothing but a shell company that took no administrative or
> financial decisions, said Pedio. "Gado is a radio relay station," she said.
> "The orders originated in Milan, and bounced from Luxembourg back to the
> Milan offices where the decisions regarding the brands were made."'

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/19/us-dolcegabbana-verdict-idUSBRE95I1MM20130619

Does anyone know of a place to see a list of these high profile prosecutions (or at least the revelations - I don't think there have been many prosecutions in the U.S., just a few hearings)? Which others come to mind? Is this a recent tax evasion trend - using IPR to shelter money abroad - or is it just becoming controversial?



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