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Off-shore Edwards

April 23, 2007 12:59 PM

Today's Washington Post TAKES A LOOK at the work done by Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, for Fortress Investment Group, a New York-based investment group know for its hedge funds. Fortress's hedge funds are incorporated in the Cayman Islands, which allowed investors to avoid or defer paying US taxes.

You may recall that during the 2004 vice president debate, Edwards criticized Vice President Dick Cheney and Halliburton for such offshore accounts.

"They oughta be closed," he said. "They oughta be closed for anybody. They ought to be closed whether they're personal, and they ought to be closed whether they apply to a corporation."

You can view that video by clicking HERE.

Edwards' 2004 presidential platform also made a big stink about this. Pre-Fortress, natch.

"It is a disgrace that American companies renounce their citizenship to reduce their taxes," Edwards wrote. "It is a disgrace that corporations can take out life insurance policies on their janitors, claim a huge tax deduction, and then keep the proceeds when that employee dies, rather than sharing them with his family. Our tax code is riddled with such loopholes, which waste our money and offend our values. This president has had several opportunities to close these very loopholes and he hasn't. I will."

An Edwards spokeswoman told the Post that Fortress stopped letting "managing partners defer their U.S. income taxes by reinvesting profits in the offshore funds. The firm made that change when it went public late last year around the time Edwards ended his consulting arrangement."

"John Edwards believes offshore tax shelters are wrong," said Edwards spokeswoman Kate Beningfield "As president, he will end them. By voluntarily going public, Fortress has ended the practice of using offshore tax shelters for deferred compensation and has committed itself to a whole set of transparency and disclosure obligations that no other hedge fund has committed itself to before."

-- jpt

April 23, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

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John Edwards has been my favorite candidate up to this point. the last two weeks has brought about a different man from the two America's that stuck with me, him living in the great America that only few know, I wonder if his consultant is behind the theme or is this his heart. I felt he was going to win the election by energizing a group of voters that have never participated in an election. now I am beginning to wonder with the 400 dollar haircuts, tax shelters etc. I am still behind him but he needs to go down to where the secound half of america is he refers too. the one where people are living on the streets and starving to death, the people with no healthcare, you energize this block of voters you win, but you really have to feel the pain of hardship to talk about it.

Posted by: ronnie walls | Apr 24, 2007 8:24:57 AM

Thanks for more biased smear Edwards crap. You must be very worried about his chances for the presidency. The only problem Edwards has is dealing with the phoney issues the media is being fed by the republican party. He shines compared to any of the republican candidates. Edwards has the light of his goodness, fairness, and positive attitude. Hopefully, only the most rubber stamp republicans will pay attention to these lies. We don't need an incompetent liar who we can drink a beer with, we need a smart, serious, fair president of integrity.

Posted by: Vicki | Apr 23, 2007 10:24:18 PM

I think the last two paragraphs of your story make this item a non-issue: Mr. Edwards no longer consults for the company, and, since the company has ended its secrecy and changed its rules concerning offshore investments and tax shelters, it doesn't seem he's done anything underhanded. Of course, Mr. Edwards will have to explain why he took the job with Fortress while he continued to decry "the two Americas." And, no, he can't use the excuse that (ahem!) he was hedging his bets.

Posted by: chuck | Apr 23, 2007 1:55:01 PM

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