Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Supported by

John L. Smith: State's Lax Non-Transparent Laws Made Clear In Panama Papers

John L. Smith says Nevada's secretive laws of incorporation need to be toughened.

The Panama Papers -- an 11-million document dump being scoured by journalists around the world -- offered insight into how the wealthy deposited and hid money in various accounts around the world.

Nevada played something of a role, because it's laws allow entities to pay a fee and incorporate here without releasing much information about the corporation's owners.

Last week, Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske announced a fine of $10,000 against a subsidiary of the Mossack Fonseca law firm, which is at the center of the worldwide investigation. The fine was the maximum allowed by law.

Offered Cegavske: “The office of secretary of state is committed to ensuring that businesses and registered agents properly maintain records in accordance with Nevada law.”

  Trouble is, Smith says, Nevada law is a joke.

"It is tip money perhaps for Mossack Fonseca, which has secreted tens of millions and even billions of dollars in assets, at all levels both shadowed and in the light overseas."

"In all fairness to Cegavske, she’s enforcing the laws on the books. The laws on the books are... a joke. Nevada has long taken advantage of those laws of secrecy. We have essentially marketed those laws to outside companies." 

  • Smith also took a look at newspapers who are suing to get more information about BLM officers involved in the Cliven Bundy ranch incident in 2014. The federal government does not want to release names, fearing for the safety of those officers. Looking at the two sides, Smith said he has a compromise that would give the newspapers information while keeping those officers safe.

"Normally what would happen is there would be a reasonable redaction of identity but there's another part of this that has received some print and that is a lawsuit that was filed by Joel Hansen and Larry Klayman on Bundy's behalf."
"They're claiming conspiracy. And if ever there was a time when the Bundy's allies wanted to look presentable and more mainstream it would be now. This lawsuit, in my opinion, makes them look like they're going out of orbit, because it claims conspiracies between the judge and Sen. Harry Reid and all kinds of actors known and unknown"

  • And Walter Kirn is an author at the Black Mountain Institute who Smith said wrote a fascinating story about the Las Vegas AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. 

"One of those people who walks our streets and looks mild mannered but when you talk about the top one-tenth of 1 percent of all the great writers in the country, he's certainly right there."
 

 

John L. Smith, KNPR commentator/contributor; Daily Beast columnist

Stay Connected