Yeah, I’m quite sure he’s not getting that far. Heck, if this project survives 2020, I would be shocked. A LOT is riding on SQ42, seeing as Star Citizen is a lost cause.
Money laundering isn’t just about getting money out. You can put in money, lose it, take the loss in taxes and with zero paper trail as to how the initial money came about. That’s why real estate deals are the biggest money laundering ops.
I’m a financial professional so I have some high level knowledge of money laundering, but I am not an expert and don’t know everything about this issue. But no offense, but that just doesn’t sound right. I could be wrong but a quick google search does not find any mention of tax losses as a reason for real estate deals:
https://www.corporatecomplianceinsights.com/money-laundering-schemes-in-real-estate/
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=4242839e-373c-4525-a853-3ad5cc84a17b
https://www.curbed.com/2018/8/10/17674584/money-laundering-real-estate-paul-manafort-trial
In fact an FBI agent specifically says in the last article:
Now maybe all of these articles missed tax losses but I’ve never heard of that before. And besides, how do you get tax losses out of buying jpeg ships in Star Citizen? :)
Many tax jurisdictions offer fractional investment tax credits for investments in certain sectors. If the funding source is questionable, even seeing a partial credit can be attractive (although given that I’ve encountered credits of up to 45% in specific sectors, the partial credit can still be fairly substantial). Obviously, I’m not saying that this is the case here or even if the relevant tax jurisdiction offers that sort of system for game development. Just adding a bit of potential perspective here.
I don’t have time to write it up right now, but it’s the most prevalent money laundering scheme. Basically, where you would normally have to pay taxes, you offset the loss from money laundered through legit businesses which can then be used to inflate the loss thus resulting in either no taxes or a tax rebate.
I’m surprised that you don’t know about this; seeing as it’s #2 on the IRS most watched list of schemes.
Money laundering doesn’t always imply bad money going in, and good money coming out. You can put bad money in, then take a legit loss on that bad money - and in some cases get money back.
Also, this moron…
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1126078422797602816?s=20
Just so you know, there will be a mechanic for all this in Star Citizen. You will be able to steal ships, sell them, invest the money in shady deals with lots of depreciation, and then use the tax loss to offset your profits from selling warbonds. It’s totally all gonna be in the game, someday. There will even be laundry ships. Here is some concept art:
I’ll give you $750 for that jpg. No, wait,$1,000!
Ok, but there is a LIMITED QUANTITY.
Pretty soon they’re going to offer the option to one lucky bidder per ship class to gain access to the manufacturer’s private top-level cert so if they ever go up against a similar ship in combat they can just blow the reactor core with a simple radio command. And then after a few months of controversy, they’ll sell after-mod astronics to protect against the hack… And some people will pay for both.
You should be on their design team. Those ideas are GOLD.
I legit want that laundry basket.
It would hamper my washing.
Another article that’s not really adding anything new, but at least this article doesn’t just regurgitate Forbes’ points.
The ABA tweeting it is insane. “Calling all lawyers – there’s money to be made here!” I couldn’t believe it.
It’s like the Bat-signal. For bats.
Are you tapping my lines?!
I just shared that tweet with a private slack and used a GIF of bat symbol.
That’d be pretty cool, being able to remotely hack enemy ships and then those ships would need to buy antivirus, I’m sure Roberts could even go into cooperation with Symantec and McAffee to include their premium quality antivirus solutions to be featured in game.