"You've probably heard that America's billionaires have gotten at least $282 billion richer during the pandemic," writes Rain Noe on Core77. "What will they spend that extra cash on, once this is all over?" Rain recommends the Aviro Business Jet Explorer, a private jet with an outdoor deck. It's just a concept design for BAE by Design Q, but I'm sure they would be happy to make it for any customer willing to pay for it.
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South Dakota has asset trusts that allow people to hide and shield their wealth. According to CNBC, the world's global elite use these trusts, including Chinese and European billionaires who want to avoid paying taxes and keep their money away from governments who would otherwise seize their fortunes for one reason or another. For the ultra rich, South Dakota is becoming a kind of mini-Switzerland.
The public became aware of these secretive South Dakota trusts when a billionaire couple recently divorced. While they were married, the husband transferred almost all of their assets into a South Dakota trust that she was not made a beneficiary of. The ex-wife is now suing her ex-husband, but the ex-husband's lawyers say the assets are controlled by the trust so they are not marital property.
Trusts in South Dakota are perpetual, meaning a wealthy family can put assets into a trust that are held in perpetuity, rather than for a limited period of time. The state also gives trusts sweeping privacy and asset-protections against creditors, business partners, lawsuits or ex-spouses. Adding to its attraction, South Dakota has no inheritance or capital gains or income taxes.
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Zamira Hajiyeva has 28 days to appeal a court order to seize her $20 million London mansion after she was unable reveal the source of her wealth, reports The Telegraph.
Hajiyeva's husband was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2016 after he was found guilty of stealing almost $3 billion from the International Bank of Azerbaijan, where he had served as chairman.
From the article:
As well as spending more than £16 million in Harrods over a ten-year period, Mrs Hajiyeva also bought the Mill Ride golf and country club in Ascot for £10.5 million. She is also said to have owned a £35 million private jet and had a wine cellar stocked with some of the world’s most expensive vintages.
Image: by Diliff - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link Read the rest
Billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is busy making sure student debt destroys the future of millions of young people. The last thing she needs to worry about is ordering her servants to retrieve one of her family's 10 yachts that some bad person set adrift.
The DeVos family are the owners of the Westport yacht SeaQuest. Richard DeVos founded @AmwayUS #BetsyDeVos https://t.co/MEt4WYhHva pic.twitter.com/y1AVHco1UP
— SuperYachtFan (@Superyachtfan) January 22, 2017
From Buzzfeed:
The yacht, called the SeaQuest, is one of 10 yachts owned by the DeVos family. It sustained between $5,000 and $10,000 worth of damage in scrapes and scratches, police said, from hitting the dock at Huron Boat Basin.
DeVos, who was born into the wealthy Prince family, which runs the Prince Corporation, is married to Richard DeVos Jr., whose family founded multi-level marketing company Amway Corporation. Her brother is private military contractor owner Eric Prince.
The SeaQuest is registered to RDV International Marine, which is located at the same address as RDV Corporation, which manages the DeVos family's wealth.
DeVos has been harshly criticized by public education advocates for her work as secretary of education. In this role, she's slashed student debt relief, rolled back rules designed to help students defrauded by colleges, rescinded protections for transgender students, and stated her support for policies to direct federal funds away from traditional public schools and into charter schools, private schools, religious schools, and online charter education.
Image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr. Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) Read the rest
