battman,
Thanks for your comments. I think you're right, and it's now virtually impossible to hide funds in offshore banks. (Unless you start your own offshore bank, of course: more easily done than you might realize.)
Having said that, it's obviously not totally impossible, as criminals like drug traffickers still seem to manage it, despite all the inter-governmental anti-money-laundering regulations.
However, I'm not seriously suggesting that even WT would stoop to such lows ...
At the same time, I don't for one moment doubt they would do almost anything to make it as difficult as possible for the US courts to find their funds, and that might involve the use of foreign corporations.
It could be done fairly easily, and finding the funds would be extremely difficult, time-consuming and costly.
I'm also interested in the question I asked a couple of posts ago:
Does anyone know anything about this? Did Treasury eventually 'get their way'?
Large corporations usually manage their cash very effectively and, depending on the daily requirements, will minimise the balance in their current accounts by placing their 'not immediately needed' funds on 7-day deposit, or 14-day or 30-day, whatever is most appropriate.
But even the 'small' amounts -- left in current accounts -- needed for the daily operations of a large corporation can be pretty substantial, and to maximise the contribution of these funds they can be placed on overnight deposit with a bank. Every afternoon the Treasury department of any large corporation will call round half-a-dozen banks to find the best overnight rate for the funds they have available, and will then make an electronic transfer of those funds to the bank giving the best rate. At 8am or 9am next morning the bank will return the funds plus interest to the corporation's current account.
Obviously, the larger the sum you have to place on deposit (whether overnight or for 7 or 14 days, etc.), the better the rate you will achieve.
Which is why the Brooklyn Treasury boys were so keen to consolidate and more efficiently 'manage' the surplus funds from foreign branches, even though it may have caused some bruised egos in distant Bethels ... !
