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Article

19 Feb 2010

Author:
[commentary] Chris Albin-Lackey, Human Rights Watch, in Forbes [USA]

Lifestyles Of The Rich And Infamous - How to keep foreign dictators from living large in the U.S.

Teodoro Nguema Obiang lives off money taken from the coffers of Equatorial Guinea...where most people endure repression and grinding poverty... In Oklahoma a company called IATS [Insured Aircraft Title Service] facilitates Obiang's purchase of a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet--after a rival company had already turned down his obviously tainted money... In a meticulously documented report, U.S. congressional investigators recently showed how legal loopholes and lax regulations let foreign kleptocrats treat America like a carefree shopping paradise while their people starve... [The] easy relationships between corrupt officials and their U.S. business partners...really should attract scrutiny. Banks, lawyers, real estate agents and others have made hefty profits off their partnerships with some of the world's biggest looters and most repressive politicians... The government should take up all of the report's recommendations. Congress should pass new legislation to close the loopholes... [also refers to attorney Michael Jay Berger, realtor Neal Baddin of Coldwell Banker]