Not to mention, more modestly and locally, Potomac, Maryland, down the street from ol’ UD, many of whose McMansions house a rich diversity of foreign kleptocrats…
I mean, first they came for the Armenians (starting with A, I presume), and I did not speak out— Because I am not an Armenian. Then they came for the Brazilians, and I did not speak out— Because I am not a Brazilian. Then they came for the Croatians, and I did not speak out— Because I am not a Croatian. Und so weiter.
If my government truly takes the wonderfully named Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Awards Program seriously, expect all those exciting new super-thin luxury towers overlooking Central Park to thin to nothingness, babe. More critically, expect UD’s little house’s price (currently overvalued, by some online estimates, at close to a million dollars) to plummet as all the nearby rich people who are propping the poor thing’s value up go to jail.
Seriously, do you really want to go down that path?
May 7th, 2022 at 12:25PM
Civil asset forfeiture looks like a good idea if it’s siloviki having their yachts impounded, or the various influence peddlers enumerated in your post.
In practice, though, it’s the pickup trucks of people running cash businesses that more frequently get caught up in that net.
A lot of the forfeiture is a way for local governments to finance their activities without raising taxes. The extension to traffic stops is straightforward.
May 7th, 2022 at 1:43PM
Stephen: Yes. That’s the stuff that doesn’t make the news.