Corporate Benedict Arnolds: Foreign Registered Agents for Tax Haven Countries

(Data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign Agents Registration Act reports, 2002.)

(Methodology: List includes only registered agents who represented OECD tax haven countries on tax and related matters. OECD's list is published in GAO-04-293, “Contractor Subsidiaries in Tax Havens,” February 2002, page 12.)

Arnold & Porter Paid $1.4 million in FY 2002 to “provide advice on U.S. securities and banking laws and policies, and represented the foreign principal in matters concerning a proposed international arbitration.”
Client: Government of Panama

APCO Worldwide, Inc. (FRA)
Paid $ 145,320 to provide advise and support for positive U.S./Liechtenstein relations.
Client: Principality of Liechtenstein

Berliner Corcoran & Rowe, LLP (FRA)
$10,707.63 for the six month period ending August 31,2002 for tax matters in negotiations with Treasury.
Client: Government of Antigua and Barbuda

GCI Group Inc. Public relations to promote investment. Client: Netherlands Antilles.
Hill & Knowlton
Paid $242,000 in FY 2002 for “monitor[ing] U.S. media for coverage of financial issues of interest to the foreign principal, and assisted in development of media response strategy relating to financial services regulation issues.”
Client: Portfolio of Finance & Economic Development, Cayman Islands B.W.I.

Hogan & Hartson, LLP
Paid $51,800 in 2002 for "advice and representation to the foreign principal on U.S. laws, regulations, policies and actions by the executive branch and U.S. Government agencies that may affect … the regulation of the financial services industry in the Bahamas…"
Client: Government to the Commonwealth of Bahamas

Lester S. Hyman
$25,000 for 6 months ending 9/30/02 for “legal and consulting services” Client: British Virgin Islands

International Registries, Inc.
Paid $2.3 million between 7/01 and 7/02 to “prepare certificates of registry, accepting applications for vessel registration and documents, and receiving and forwarding applications for the formation of non-resident corporations under the Associations Law of the Marshall Islands.” Client: Marshall Islands

LISCR, L.L.C., Vienna, VA
Paid $3.2 million to “collect taxes and fees in respect to the maritime and corporate programs of the foreign principal and disbursed those receipts either to the foreign principal or for the purpose provided under the legislation.”
Client:Government of the Republic of Liberia

Grover Glenn Norquist
“Contacted members of Congress and their staff to discuss the strategic relationship between the United States and the Republic of the Seychelles and the possibility of increasing U.S. visibility in the Seychelles.”
Client: Republic of the Seychelles Islands, President France Albert Rene

Venable, Baetjer, Howard & Civiletti, LLP
Paid $120,000 in FY 2002 to “provide services concerning the foreign principal's tax relationship with the United States and Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service policy and regulations relating to the taxation of foreign nationals on U.S.-derived income.
Client: Government of the Netherlands Antilles.