PHUKET: The recent disclosure of tax haven records has been used by journalists to highlight inequalities between citizens who respect their countries' laws and those who try to avoid their responsibilities.
We would say evade them but that would be implying these people are doing something illegal. They're not.
Listed among the 10 Canadians noted by CBC as being tax dodgers - with 540 other Canadian tax-dodgers - is Eric Levine of California Wow fame.
Quite a few questions are being asked about Mr Levine, perhaps the Asian region's most notable iron pumper.
We've managed to discover through inquiries that Mr Levine, who a few years back built the Greater Phuket region's most luxurious villa, Villa Beyond at Natai beach north of the island, sold it for $24 million.
The Russian who bought it quickly turned around and sold it to another Russian for $29 million. We wonder who is using the 10-pin bowling alley these days.
According to our sources, there was a grand plan at one stage to build a series of luxurious villas north of Phuket, with the price set at $40 million.
Here's what CBC had to say abour Eric Levine, who sparked that particular Greater Phuket property gold rush:
Age: 57
Hometown: Bangkok
Offshore entity: Braveheart Trust in the Cook Islands
Bio: Montreal-born Levine opened health clubs in Canada and California before moving to Asia, where he founded the California Fitness chain of gyms in Hong Kong and California Wow Xperience in Thailand. Money came in droves: The leaked offshore files trace millions of dollars in distributions to him as beneficiary of the Braveheart Trust. His luxurious lifestyle included a 65,000-square-foot beachfront mansion he built on the Andaman Sea, a Ferrari and model girlfriends. Lately, though, California Wow has been pursued in court by a creditor (Levine took the company public in 2005 and stepped down as chairman and CEO in 2011; he still owns 11 per cent of the stock, according to the latest securities filing). And just last week, media reports said Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Office was investigating the company, alleging it funnelled $57 million out of the country over the last decade while falsely declaring losses on its balance sheet.
Eric Levine, where are you pumping iron today?
We would say evade them but that would be implying these people are doing something illegal. They're not.
Listed among the 10 Canadians noted by CBC as being tax dodgers - with 540 other Canadian tax-dodgers - is Eric Levine of California Wow fame.
Quite a few questions are being asked about Mr Levine, perhaps the Asian region's most notable iron pumper.
We've managed to discover through inquiries that Mr Levine, who a few years back built the Greater Phuket region's most luxurious villa, Villa Beyond at Natai beach north of the island, sold it for $24 million.
The Russian who bought it quickly turned around and sold it to another Russian for $29 million. We wonder who is using the 10-pin bowling alley these days.
According to our sources, there was a grand plan at one stage to build a series of luxurious villas north of Phuket, with the price set at $40 million.
Here's what CBC had to say abour Eric Levine, who sparked that particular Greater Phuket property gold rush:
Eric Levine
Age: 57
Hometown: Bangkok
Offshore entity: Braveheart Trust in the Cook Islands
Bio: Montreal-born Levine opened health clubs in Canada and California before moving to Asia, where he founded the California Fitness chain of gyms in Hong Kong and California Wow Xperience in Thailand. Money came in droves: The leaked offshore files trace millions of dollars in distributions to him as beneficiary of the Braveheart Trust. His luxurious lifestyle included a 65,000-square-foot beachfront mansion he built on the Andaman Sea, a Ferrari and model girlfriends. Lately, though, California Wow has been pursued in court by a creditor (Levine took the company public in 2005 and stepped down as chairman and CEO in 2011; he still owns 11 per cent of the stock, according to the latest securities filing). And just last week, media reports said Thailand's Anti-Money Laundering Office was investigating the company, alleging it funnelled $57 million out of the country over the last decade while falsely declaring losses on its balance sheet.
Eric Levine, where are you pumping iron today?
there's no such thing as "Greater Phuket". it's either phuket or it isn't phuket!!
Posted by another steve on June 12, 2013 18:15
Editor Comment:
People say Britain isn't great any more as well.