Mohacsy's Safe Portfolio Member Forum

[Elroy Jetson]

Some shell companies provide purposes other than tax avoidance. They can help US companies get around government sanctions and embargoes against doing business with countries like Iran.

One example is Infinium which Exxon created with Shell in Europe.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/01/09/on_tillerson_s_watch_exxon_sold_iran_oil_circumventing_u_s_sanctions.html

Because Infinium was a European company and Exxon owned only 50%, they could do business with Iran, Syria and Sudan - which was strictly prohibited by US sanctions on those countries. If Exxon had owned 51% of Infinium, they could not have traded with Iran. This is another example of pay-to-play with Congress members.

Everyone has a different idea of what is morally right. Unlike Exxon, Chevron has never used shell companies to violate sanctions, but they do use shell companies to reduce their income taxes.