luxury Archives

U.S. Will Track Secret Buyers of Luxury Real Estate

January 13, 2016 By administrator

Condominiums at the Time Warner Center were found to have a number of hidden owners over a decade who had been the subjects of government investigations. Credit Edward Caruso for The New York Times

Concerned about illicit money flowing into luxury real estate, the Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would begin identifying and tracking secret buyers of high-end properties.

The initiative will start in two of the nation’s major destinations for global wealth: Manhattan and Miami-Dade County. It will shine a light on the darkest corner of the real estate market: all-cash purchases made by shell companies that often shield purchasers’ identities.

It is the first time the federal government has required real estate companies to disclose names behind all-cash transactions, and it is likely to send shudders through the real estate industry, which has benefited enormously in recent years from a building boom increasingly dependent on wealthy, secretive buyers.

The initiative is part of a broader federal effort to increase the focus on money laundering in real estate. Treasury and federal law enforcement officials said they were putting greater resources into investigating luxury real estate sales that involve shell companies like limited liability companies, often known as L.L.C.s; partnerships; and other entities.

Officials said the new government efforts were inspired in part by a series last year in The New York Times that examined the rising use of shell companies as foreign buyers increasingly sought safe havens for their money in the United States.

The use of shell companies in real estate is legal, and L.L.C.s have a range of uses unrelated to secrecy. But a top Treasury official, Jennifer Shasky Calvery, said her agency had seen instances in which multimillion-dollar homes were being used as safe deposit boxes for ill-gotten gains, in transactions made more opaque by the use of anonymous shell companies.

“We are concerned about the possibility that dirty money is being put into luxury real estate,” said Ms. Calvery, the director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, the Treasury unit running the initiative. “We think some of the bigger risk is around the least transparent transactions.”

Source: nytimes.com/2016/01/14/us/us-will-track-secret-buyers-of-luxury-real-estate.html?emc=edit_na_20160113&nlid=49769097&ref=headline&_r=0

ARMENIA A new center for luxury officials inaugurated soon

July 16, 2015 By administrator

Short of money, yet the Armenian government plans to soon inaugurate the facility which cost 28 million dollars. It includes whirlpools, restaurants and tennis courts. It is supposed to serve as a “training center” for tax officials and Armenian customs.
The government committee that deals with state revenues (SRC) began construction of the center in the resort town of Dilijan in 2011.

Erdogan luxury lifestyle the palace Ak Saray chandeliers carry $35 million price tag

June 3, 2015 By administrator

Two hundred chandeliers hanging from the ceilings above the stairs of the AK Saray presidential palace cost as much as $35 million, according to the Ankara branch of the Turkish Union of Engineers and Architects’ Chambers (TMMOB).

The amount could light the homes of 6 million people, said the TMMOB, and is the equivalent of nearly 37,000 minimum wage salaries in Turkey, where the minimum monthly earnings for a single worker stand at TL 949, currently equal to roughly $354.

According to the TMMOB, the chandeliers in Ak Saray were furnished using expensive Swarovski crystals, and that each chandelier contains upwards of 10,000 Swarovski crystals, meaning that the imported production costs for each chandelier range between an estimated 50,000 and 100,000 euros.

The current residence of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ak Saray was built illegally on protected forest land in the capital of Ankara at an official cost of TL 1.37 billion.

The TMMOB had previously released a number of details and information related to the monthly costs of Erdoğan’s lavish palace. According to the chamber, the cost of cooling the palace for a month is around TL 600,000, while heating (gas) and lighting expenses total some TL 1.6 million and TL 1.2 million, respectively. The cost of cleaning the presidential palace is around TL 8 million. Additional claims surfaced indicating that gold-plated water glasses used at the palace cost TL 1,000 each

Luxury car purchased for Turkey’s top Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet)

December 13, 2014 By administrator

Nurettin Kurt – ISTANBUL

A luxury vehicle has been purchased to serve as the official car of Turkey’s top cleric, Hürriyet has learned.

Mehmet Görmez, the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), will soon start using the Mercedes S500 sedan, which is worth 1 million Turkish Liras ($435,000). Moreover, 14 Toyota cars were bought for the Diyanet’s general directors, as well as 16 minibuses to serve the organization.

The institution announced Dec. 13 that the purchases were made from the coffers of the state, not by using citizens’ private donations for the Diyanet Foundation.

“All the vehicles mentioned in the news report were purchased through tenders conducted by the State Supply Office under the permissions granted by the Law of The Central Government’s 2014 Budget and within the knowledge of the Finance Ministry,” the Diyanet said in a written statement.

Turkey’s top religious office also said that the cost of the luxury car allotted for Görmez is “much lower,” without releasing the actual figure in the official documents.

Görmez was featured in international media when he met Pope Francis, who paid a historic visit to Turkey late last month. It was reported that Turkish authorities had refused the pope’s request for “a humble car” in Ankara on the grounds of security. In Istanbul, however, the pontiff had surprised many journalists by arriving in a “humble car” with a civilian traffic license plate.

December/13/2014