Gawker Posts 950 Pages Of Bain Documents (updated 2x)

[ProSense]

Last edited Thu Aug 23, 2012, 08:43 PM - Edit history (2)

Gawker Posts 950 Pages Of Bain Documents

Gawker has posted a whopping 950 pages of purported internal documents from Bain-related entites, claiming the trove of information includes new details on Bain's offshore Caribbean holdings that Democrats have cited in attacks against Mitt Romney. The documents, described by Gawker, are "internal audits, financial statements, and private investor letters for 21 cryptically named entities in which Romney had invested—at minimum—more than $10 million as of 2011."

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/gawker-posts-950-pages-of-bain-documents

Updated to add:

...Cook flags something interesting: Romney's retirement package includes investment funds that weren't created until years after he claimed to have retired. One such fund was created in the summer of 2002; another in 2008. Romney's claim that he had no involvement with Bain after February, 1999 has already been thoroughly debunked, and these documents once again underscore that Romney's involvement in Bain continued long after he claims.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/23/1123365/-Gawker-publishes-trove-of-documents-on-Romney-investments-many-of-them-offshore-and-tied-to-Bain

Update 2:

Bain Documents: Romney Offshore Investments Used 'Blockers' To Avoid Taxes

By MATTHEW MOSK (@mattmosk) and EMILY FRIEDMAN (@EmilyABC)

The private equity firm founded by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made use of arcane techniques in several of its Cayman Islands-based funds to avoid U.S. taxes, according to a trove of Bain Capital's private audit and finance records made public on the website Gawker today.

The audited financial statements of one of the Cayman Islands funds make note of the use of "blocker" entities, which are used to help retirement accounts and nonprofit entities avoid some taxes. Financial statements for another fund note that it "intends to conduct its operations so it will … not be subject to United States federal income or withholding tax ..."

<...>

The publication of the Bain Documents on the Gawker website could rekindle debate about Romney's role at the company, and specifically about Bain's decision to domicile many of its funds in offshore locations known as tax havens.

<...>

"The only reason they structure it that way is to avoid tax," said Rebecca Wilkins, senior counsel with the group Citizens for Tax Justice. "It just confirms what everyone already believes about the tax system -- that it's rigged. That the rules are rigged to favor the well off."

- more -

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/bain-documents-romney-offshore-investments-blockers-avoid-taxes/story?id=17067015

Mitt, now would be a good time to release your tax returns.

The Tax Returns are Hurting Romney, Badly
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021179614

Ryan worsens Romney's tax problem(s)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021166360

[berni_mccoy]

1. KABOOM! Romney's Impossible Retirement Plan Is Exposed By This!

Here: http://gawker.com/5936873

[SkyDaddy7]

36. I seriously doubt anything will come of it...

The press is scared to ruffle Republican feathers...This is obvious when they allowed Romney to continue lying about his involvement with Bain Capital...I honestly think they do not want to end the election before it happens by actually reporting the truth.

I hope I am wrong but i have got my hopes up that the TRUTH will prevail far too many times...

[BumRushDaShow]

2. This calls for the big popcorn machine

[CoffeeCat]

3. I think we're gonna need a bigger boat...

...and more butter!

[burrowowl]

9. Will that be enough to get

through the report?

[BumRushDaShow]

13. We can just keep feeding it bags of popcorn kernels

[ProSense]

39. .

[bupkus]

27. LOL - It calls for a popcorn explosion!

And this is just the tip of the iceberg that will sink Rmoney like the Titanic!

[Shankapotomus]

4. K&R (nt)

[bobthedrummer]

5. K&R n/t

[great white snark]

6. K&R

[DonRedwood]

7. Read the reports attached to the Gawker post....amazing stuff. THANK you!

[ProfessionalLeftist]

8. Self-deleted my post

Posted at 11:25. This one's better - more info & references. Thanks ProSense.

[gademocrat7]

10. K&R

[genxlib]

11. Don't get Rather'ed

Make sure these documents are real.

You know those fuckers are devious enough to feed us forgeries then play victim.

[Segami]

12. I agree. I sense trolls lurking around this story.

[ehrnst]

14. Yep - this could have Rove's fingerprints all over it. (nt)

[uponit7771]

16. +1

[DearAbby]

18. You all made Rove into such a boogerman

he is just a human being like anyone else...and he got away with that shit once...fool me twice same on me.

Don't worship the man, his time has passed, even his own party has left him behind to their rush to the weeds.

[pnwmom]

20. There is already an explanation for the worst looking aspect of these papers (so far).

His Bain retirement agreement gave him an ownership interest in Bain entities started up to 10 years after his retirement.

So I"m with the people saying to be cautious.

[drm604]

25. Whether or not these papers prove anything nefarious is a different question.

I'm also not convinced that the retirement thing proves anything.

But genxlib is warning that the papers may be forgeries. I'm skeptical of that for a number of reasons (see my post below).

[ProSense]

28. Wait,

"His Bain retirement agreement gave him an ownership interest in Bain entities started up to 10 years after his retirement."

...so he still has an ownership stake in Bain?

Is he still the CEO?

[drm604]

22. Seriously.

If someone was going to try to make people look foolish with fakes they would have faked some tax returns, and they would have contained some easy to grasp (for the layman) smoking guns.

In any case, it's difficult to fake this kind of stuff at this level of detail without getting caught. It would take more effort than it's worth. What would the Romney campaign gain by making Gawker look foolish and would it be worth the large effort required to credibly fake these documents?

Gawker has had a specialist attorney look over them and apparently he didn't find anything obviously wrong with them.

Let's at least wait to see if there are any denials (or non-denial denials) coming from Bain or any of the other companies involved, or the Romney campaign.

Also, keep in mind that the Romney campaign has been desperately trying to draw attention away from his finances. This does just the opposite.

[Shankapotomus]

32. But if the Romney campiagn

faked documents favorable to him, it would take the heat off of Romney for his finances and leave him in the clear if the forgery was found out.

In other words, if we fall for it, the controversy over his finances dies out. And if we don't, because it's leaked by an "unknown source" we can't pin it on him.

But the goal of leaking false info is to perhaps conceal real info damaging to his election.

[drm604]

33. I understand the goal,

but this isn't a simple memo like with the Dan Rather thing.

To fake something like this, you need documents that will stand up to a reasonable level of investigation, otherwise your victim won't publish them. So you need credible fakes. Faking 960 pages of complex financial documents in a way that is at all credible is a lot more difficult than faking a simple memo.

The point of forging something like this is to cast suspicion on any real documents that are leaked later on. That goal can be achieved just as effectively with much simpler documents, such as tax returns, which would be easier to pass off as real.

Gawker has asked the Romney campaign for comments and haven't received a reply as of yet. We'll see whether or not they deny the authenticity.

[ProSense]

23. Sure. In fact,

this could just be diversionary bullshit, but scrutiny will tell. I mean, there are hundreds of pages, possibly selective.

What's not included are Mitt's tax returns.

[askyeshua]

15. Gawrsh Darnit!

Just when he was hoping to shift to some positive attention for once with a new job creating Energy plan

[ProSense]

34. .

Welcome!

[closeupready]

17. Major K&R - hoo, boy, this is gonna be fun!

Thanks, ProSense!

[pnwmom]

19. I read a possible explanation for the retirement thing.

It said that his retirement agreement gave him an interest in Bain entities created up to ten years after his retirement.

Sorry I don't have a link.

[ProSense]

29. If he still does,

"It said that his retirement agreement gave him an interest in Bain entities created up to ten years after his retirement."

...he likely has a say in this:

Workers at Bain-owned plant appeal to Romney to save their jobs
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/17/usa-campaign-bain-idUSL2E8ICJK820120717

What is Mitt hiding?

[freshwest]

21. Bain/Pain 2012 = Smitten by Activists

[longship]

24. R&K nt

[highplainsdem]

26. K&R

[DonRedwood]

30. Hope you don't mind a kick back to the top

and an R

[steve2470]

31. k&r nt

[samsingh]

35. i hoping to see some key points circulated

[ProSense]

38. See update 2 n/t

[proud patriot]

37. bookmarked

[Ford_Prefect]

40. Rmoney Laundering ??????????

More and more this looks like the kind of structure used to launder drug cartel money...Where so many shell companies and fake banks hold each other in an endlessly looping sequence that not only disguises ownership and capital value but also hides income streams.

Has anyone commented on how much the Cayman banks are earning from this kind of operation?

[kentuck]

41. I still want to know...?

What rules permit him to have a $100 million IRA ??

He's a deceitful, conniving thief.

[valerief]

43. When you own Congress, anything is possible. nt

[valerief]

42. Because the most important thing in the world is to make rich people richer.

Thanks for posting!

[ProSense]

44. Kick for

more insights.

“If challenged in court, Bain would lose."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021189869

Lid blowing off Romney tax secrecy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021201624