Banking and Finance Law Commons^™

Vat Fraud & Triangulation, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud has received a lot of domestic enforcement attention. True cross border enforcement (joint or coordinated multi-Member State audit) has been limited. There are signs that this is changing as the Member States become more aggressive in their search for revenue.

Along with this shift in enforcement focus, triangulation analysis has moved from being an interesting aspect of the MTIC fraud structure to the central element in a larger understanding of how a fraudster thinks and how he carries out his fraud. We are coming to understand that triangulations are not only the mechanism of how …

Legal Framework For Soviet Privatization, Olga Floroff, Susan Tiefenbrun

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

American Parent Bank Liability For Foreign Branch Deposits: Which Party Bears Sovereign Risk?, Adam Telanoff

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Regulatory Conflicts: International Tender And Exchange Offers In The 1990s, John C. Maguire

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Real-Time Collection Of The Value-Added Tax: Some Business And Legal Implications, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Boryana Madzharova

Faculty Scholarship

Recent estimates of the level of VAT fraud in the EU are commensurate with the EU budget. With the Green paper on the future of VAT, the European Commission stressed the urgency and necessity of comprehensive VAT reforms. This paper analyses the business and legal implications of the recently proposed split-payment mechanism, which, if implemented, would move VAT’s method of collection to real-time. The discussion is positioned in the context of two increasingly visible trends in the EU – the general shift towards greater reliance on indirect taxation and the growing popularity of electronic payment instruments. The potential implementation of …

Recovering "Protection And Security", George K. Foster

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Among the most persistent controversies in international investment law is the nature of the "'protection and security" standard found in most investment treaties. Some tribunals contend that the standard requires nothing more than physical protection of covered investments, while others maintain that it requires legal security as well. Some insist that it is entirely distinct from the fair and equitable treatment standard that is often expressed in the same sentence or paragraph, while others effectively conflate the two standards. These conflicting decisions are undermining the legitimacy of investment treaty arbitration, but this Article seeks to resolve the controversies underlying them …

Mahagében Kft & Péter Dávid: Re-Directing The Eu Vat's Perfect Storm, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

On June 21, 2012 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rendered judgment on two Hungarian references, Mahagében kft v. Nemzeti Adó-és Vámhivatal Dél-dunántúli Regionális Adó Fölgazgatósága and Péter Dávid v. Nemzeti Adó-és Vámhivatal Dél-dunántúli Regionális Adó Fölgazgatósága (Mahagében/Dávid). The Mahagében/Dávid decisions clarify the CJEU’s earlier holdings in the joined cases of Alex Kittel v. Belgium and Belgium v. Recolta Recycling SPRL (Kittel/Recolta).

Kittel/Recolta is a critically important decision. It is central to the EU’s anti-fraud effort. It is one of three legal imperatives that earlier this year appeared to be coalescing into a Perfect (enforcement) Storm.

After …

Taking Interdependence Seriously: The Need For A Reassessment Of The Precautionary Principle In International Trade Law, Markus Wagner

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article advocates for a more prominent role of the precautionary principle in international trade law, particularly within the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. It argues that this principle, which allows for preventive measures to avoid potential harm even in the absence of scientific certainty, is essential for addressing complex, high-risk issues such as climate change and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The article contends that the WTO's current reliance on robust scientific evidence for trade-restrictive measures may not be feasible or sufficient for such challenges, and it explores how the precautionary principle can be integrated into WTO law to balance trade …

A Perfect Storm In The Eu Vat: Kittel, "R" And Marc, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

EU VAT authorities are close to turning the tables on missing traders. For many years organized fraudsters have been stealing huge amounts of VAT on the domestic re-sale of exempt cross-border supplies. Losses have been enormous whether the transactions are in goods (notably cell phones and computer chips) or in tradable services (CO2 permits and VoIP). No market has been safe from the fraudsters.

Answers are developing, but these answers may look more like Armageddon than measured enforcement. Solutions are so draconian, and so all-encompassing that very few intra-community traders will feel safe from the gathering storm. The situation is …

Were "It" To Happen: Contract Continuity Under Euro Regime Change, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

One way or another, the European Monetary Union (EMU) is apt to endure. The prospect of continuation under the precise contours of the regime as we presently find it, however, is anything but certain. Hence many investors and other actual or prospective contract parties are likely to remain skittish until matters grow clearer. This skittishness, importantly, can itself hamper the prospect of expeditious European recovery. Addressing particular sources of ongoing uncertainty about EMU prospects can itself therefore aid in the project of recovery.

This Essay accordingly aims to impose structure upon one particular, and indeed particularly complex, source of uncertainty …

Technology, Vat Compliance, And ‘Black Swan’ Blindness, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

There is fundamentally no difference between a value added tax (VAT), and a retail sales tax (RST) when it comes to collecting the tax on cross-border sales. If (under a VAT) a seller is allowed to “zero-rate” cross-border sales, or if (under a RST) a seller is exempt from collecting the tax on cross-border sales, the critical enforcement question is exactly the same – how does the system assure that the buyer will self-assess (and pay) the tax?

The simple answer is that the tax administration audits. The more complicated answer notes that the effectiveness of the audit (by the …

The Regulation Of Online Gaming Across Jurisdictions: Success, Standards And Stability, Peter Nelson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In 2005 the gaming market was worth an estimated six billion dollars, half of that represented by online gambling revenues. However not all jurisdictions (countries) regulate the industry the same. Some jurisdictions allow the industry to flourish while some go as far as banning the industry all together. I gather data on all 75 global jurisdictions that have some form of online gaming. I analyze which regulations allow the industry to prosper while maintaining quality standards, and which regulations do not work. Preliminary analysis shows that the amount of years a country has allowed online gambling, as well as the …

Imf: Predatory Lender Or Latin America’S Best Chance?, Paul Thomas Smith

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Recently, there has been heated debate as to whether or not assistance from the International Monetary Fund has proven to be a great humanitarian effort or a scheme by Western governments to keep emerging Latin American countries in debt. The IMF partners with numerous governments in order to create a collective monetary community from which all may benefit in times of need. These partnered countries are also able to apply for assistance if they find themselves in monetary hardships. Some studies have shown that the IMF has been too heavy handed, while other studies have shown that recipient governments may …

Transfer Pricing: Data Dumps And Comparability — Studies From The U.S., U.K., Canada, And Australia, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Andrew B. Shact

Faculty Scholarship

Comparability is the heart of transfer pricing. The OECD, U.K., Canadian, Australian, and U.S. transfer pricing rules all echo one another on how critically important the comparability analysis is. Performing this analysis and proving comparability, however, is a demanding exercise.

What makes proving comparability so difficult is that the analysis is two sided. Both controlled and uncontrolled transactions must be thoroughly analyzed. Just as much effort needs to be applied to determine the functions, contract terms, risks and the economic conditions for the unrelated party comparables as is spent on analyzing the related parties (taxpayers).

But there is more to …

Dodd-Frank And Basel Iii’S Skin In The Game Divergence And Why It Is Good For The International Banking System , Eric Thompson

Global Business Law Review

The recent financial collapse has illuminated many problems with the global financial system. One of these problems was that the financial system developed in a way that allowed banks to profit by simply making more loans instead of quality loans. After the financial collapse, regulators scrambled to enact new legislation to better manage the financial system and avoid the problems that caused the collapse. One way in which regulators attempted to improve the system was to remove the ability of banks to generate limitless loans in which the banks had no stake. Two such pieces of regulation, the Dodd-Frank Wall …

A Reflection On Financial Markets, 1 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 1 (2012), Leo Melamed

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

In 1972 the International Monetary Market (the “IMM”) was launched in order to provide the financial world the same ability as the agriculture industry to manage risk. At the time, no one knew if the IMM would succeed, have any merit, or be accepted by other members of the financial world. The IMM’s commencement was before the age of technology—before the onset of computers. Once computers existed, financial engineers had the ability to electronically allocate risk and the world began to acclimate to the idea of computer-generated financial derivatives. This Article stresses that full disclosure and transparency is dire in …

Product Innovation, Clearing, And Competition Among U.S. Derivatives Exchanges, 1 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 3 (2012), Michael Gorham

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

Futures traders are attracted to market liquidity—the ability to buy and sell without the transaction having a large impact on market price. Market liquidity is associated with a large number of buyers and sellers and high average daily volumes of trading. This Article discusses the reluctance of futures traders to switch to a new exchange which does not have as much liquidity as an older, established exchange and the difficulty that these new exchanges face in acquiring even a marginal portion of the market share. These difficulties arise because these exchanges choose to use a clearing house that they own …

The Matryoshka Doll Principle: Transparent Governance Obligations Of Finra Remain Safely Nested Within The Layers Of Existing Securities Regulation, 1 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 13 (2012), Brittany Mcintosh

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

This Article compares the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB to the factors used in Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. when determining whether a corporation is part of the government (and consequently subject to government control and the President’s removal powers). In Free Enterprise, the U.S. Supreme Court considered factors to determine whether or not an agency is a self-regulatory organization (an independent third party agency that is not subject to government control). Under the Free Enterprise test, the Court held that PCAOB was not an SRO (unlike the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc.) because …

Maybe There Is More Than One Reason They Call It A Derivative Lawsuit – The Implicit Corporate Duty To Hedge, 1 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 29 (2012), Joseph Michael Reyes

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

Derivatives became the primary scapegoat after the financial markets crashed in 2008 and many large investment banks collapsed in the aftermath. Derivatives were thought to be far too risky and not transparent, even though derivatives were originally contrived in order to mitigate risk. Contrary to popular opinion, if used properly, derivatives are very effective in the mitigation of price changes, currency exchange, and interest rate risk. Moreover, the current regulatory landscape encourages the use of derivatives to hedge risk. The current financial environment encompasses the widespread use and acceptance of products that allow hedging to be a common trade practice. …

Dodd-Frank Whistleblower Program: Whistleblower Prevention Strategies, Criticisms, And Future Implications, 1 J. Marshall Global Mkt. L.J. 59 (2012), Florence Shu-Acquaye

John Marshall Global Markets Law Journal

Section 922 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act authorized the SEC to create a committee that would be responsible for promulgating and enforcing rules to reward whistleblowers. Such rewards are to be paid from the Investor Protection Fund, which is embodied in SEC Rule 21F. The whistleblower provision is meant to promote corporate whistleblowing by incentivizing the prevention of financial abuse. Critics contend, however, that the whistleblower program fails to encourage corporations to strengthen internal compliance programs; instead, corporations will put more effort into whistleblower prevention strategies in order to prevent SEC enforcement actions. SEC Rule …

International Investments Arbitration: Winning, Losing And Why, Susan D. Franck

Contributions to Books

In late 2008, as financial markets were crashing, the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment launched the Columbia FDI Perspectives. The first Perspective, entitled “The FDI recession has begun,” correctly forecast an FDI recession in the following year. From that first Perspective in late 2008 to the end of 2010, the series published thirty-three concise notes on topical FDI-related issues by diverse experts in the field. The purpose of these Perspectives is to inform readers about some of the important issues and trends in the contemporary debate on FDI, and to promote a wide-ranging discussion about the policy implications …

The Cape Town Convention's International Registry: Decoding The Secrets Of Success In Global Electronic Commerce, Jane K. Winn

Articles

The International Registry, established pursuant to the Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, is a new global electronic commerce system for recording and establishing the relative priority of interests in aircraft equipment. Other examples of global electronic commerce systems include the airline computer reservation system, the SWIFT financial network, and payment card networks.

The International Registry may be the most successful global electronic commerce system ever built in terms of the speed with which it was implemented, its adoption rate, and the dearth of controversy surrounding its operation. The real "driver" of its success is demand for …

Vat Fraud: The Tradable Services Problem, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Tradable services – VoIP termination services, mobile minutes, software as a service (SaaS), or almost any service bought or sold in the “cloud” – are a distinct class of taxable supplies. These service-based supplies both resemble and differ fundamentally from goods. They also differ from services that are consumed-on-purchase (consumed services).

Tradable services are designed from the beginning for re-sale. They are hybrid supplies that behave commercially like goods, but have functional attributes that make them hard to distinguish from services generally. When determining the place of supply/ place of taxation for these kinds of supplies, their hybrid character presents …

Turnabout Is Fair Play: The U.S. Response To Mexico’S Request For Bank Account Information, Kevin Presian

Global Business Law Review

This Note argues that the United States needs to come to a compromise with Mexico over Mexico’s request for information concerning interest paid by U.S. banks to residents of Mexico. The United States could ignore Mexico’s request, but that may create animosity between the two nations. Alternatively, the United States could fully comply with Mexico’s request; however, that may lead to strong opposition from the banking sector. It is in the best interest of the United States to model its compromise on the recent compromise between the United States and Switzerland. While there are issues with this compromise that would …

The Revolving Door Of Emigration: The Economic Influences Of Remittances In Developing Countries, Laura L. Norris

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Economic incentives play an integral role in many individuals' choices to leave their country of origin. While a person may independently make the decision to migrate, some governments have developed extensive programs to promote the export of workers. Developing nations often initiate such programs for the purpose of acquiring additional sources of foreign exchange and external financing, as emigrants in transnational families can play a critical role in development through remittances. Remittances to developing countries totaled $325 billion in 2010, and they will likely continue to increase along with emigration. The following Comment considers the palpable contribution remittances have on …

What Role For “Women,” “Men,” And Transpeople/Intersex People In Gender Equality: A Commentary, Edward D. Stein

Articles

This has been a very rich opening panel to what promises to be a terrific conference. The panelists' comments go in such varied directions that it is a challenge to be both a commentator and summarizer, especially when I have just a few minutes to speak. What I plan to do is say a little bit to draw together some of the themes that the panelists have been talking about that are connected to a couple of topics I have been working on while at the same time trying to look forward to some of the things I hope we …

After The Fall: Financial Crisis And The International Order, Robert B. Ahdieh

Faculty Scholarship

Recent years have challenged the international order to a degree not seen since World War II — and perhaps the Great Depression. As the U.S. housing crisis metastasized into a financial and economic crisis of grave proportions, and spread to nearly every corner of the globe, the strength of our international institutions — the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, the Group of Twenty, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, and others — was tested as never before. Likewise tested, were the limits of our national commitment to those institutions, to our international obligations, and to global engagement more …

Harmonization Of International Legal Structure For Fostering Professional Services: Lessons From Early U.S. Federal-State Relations, Amar Gupta, Deth Sao

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

In the current global marketplace, liberalization of trade in professional services (services) presents both big challenges and profitable opportunities for the international community. Changes in technology and state-privatization polices over the past half century have made services the fastest growing sector in international trade. Despite such a transformation, the potential for further innovation and expansion in services industries is in jeopardy. In response to public-policy initiatives, regulatory concerns, and political pressures to protect domestic jobs and industries, states have adopted a plethora of discriminatory and restrictive policies against trade in services. Because existing international legal mechanisms are ill-equipped to resolve …

Voip Mtic — Vat Fraud In Voice Over Internet Protocol, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

In the beginning, the VAT fraud known as missing trader intra-community (MTIC) fraud appeared to be a UK problem concentrated in the cell phone and computer chip markets. MTIC has mutated (to other commodities) and migrated (to other Member States). This paper describes how this fraud operates in the VoIP market, and how in this mutation it is no longer confined to the EU, but can infiltrate any VAT/GST anywhere.

Canada, Botswana, Japan, Iceland and Jamaica (to mention a few jurisdictions) have consumption taxes that are just as vulnerable as is the EU VAT to VoIP missing trader fraud. It …

Co2 Mtic Fraud — Technologically Exploiting The Eu Vat (Again), Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

On February 1, 2010 Algirdas Šemeta is expected to be confirmed as the next European commissioner for taxation, customs union, audit and anti-fraud. If his nomination passes a confirmation hearing at the European Parliament he will succeed László Kovács. At the top of Mr. Šemeta’s list of things requiring attention should be MTIC fraud in tradable CO2 permits. Political and fiscal realities make CO2 MTIC fraud a top priority.

CO2 MTIC is a technology-driven fraud that takes advantage of the same weaknesses in the EU VAT that have become well known in the cell phone and computer chip trade. The …