PART FOUR 2014
RUSSIANS
Tarasov’s compatriots hid their hot money in the Mediterranean: in Cyprus, Malta and of course Israel where more than one million Russian Jews lived. And as always the flow of hot money had ended up burning the fingers of the imprudent.
Such small countries had been conveniently near offshore banking havens for many Russians. Before the crash it was estimated that more than a half of all bank deposits in Cyprus were Russian. Those claiming Jewish origin banked their money in Israel, taking advantage of dual or multiple nationality status. With Israeli citizenship they had freedom to travel to the EU and North America without visas.
Switzerland had been a privileged shelter for the rich and wealthy, especially Russians and the like, who feared the unpredictability of their own governments, however, since Swiss banks had come under US scrutiny for tax evasion and money laundering, the rich had been forced to seek alternative safe havens to hide their money.
With Western sanctions, the pressure to seek alternative shelters where few questions also increased. One of them was Panama, which offered citizenship and passports in return for investment, an attractive destination for those oligarchs, businessmen and Mafiyosa, who forewarned of the problems confronting Cypriot banks had transferred their money to the Caribbean.
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