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Judge White Does The Right Thing.

By Rob Lambert - Email Editor

Date : March 06, 2008

Two weeks ago I reported on a decision by Judge White, a Federal District Judge, ordering Wikileaks.com's main site closed. You can read my earlier newsletter here. The bottom line is that Wikileaks.com had a large number of internal documents posted on it which allegedly showed that the Cayman Office of a huge and respected Swiss Bank, Bank Julius Baer, had engaged in nasty behavior amounting to tax fraud and money laundering.

I promised to keep you informed.

I am happy to report that Judge White came to his senses. I would like to think that he read my scathing newsletter and just did the right thing. However, I suspect that the amicus briefs submitted by 12 organizations representing most of the English speaking press helped a little more. It is worthwhile reading.

His decision, which trampled on the First Amendment, was also impossible to enforce. It has been reversed, and Wikileaks.com is now back on line.

Besides being great grist for cocktail parties, this decision does demonstrate a common problem. We live in a big world. Those of us who spend most of our time in the USA tend to think that the world revolves around our country, that our laws are naturally fair, and our courts are respected throughout the world.

It is sometimes great to have decisions like this that remind us that we are just one little, not-so-old country. Yes, we are the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, but the rest of the world just plain doesn’t care. This is one reason why Judge White’s ill-conceived (if it was ever conceived at all!) order was ineffective. Even when he ordered Wikileaks.com closed, his order had no practical effect. The servers for this whistle blower site were located in other countries, which just plain didn’t give a hoot about Judge White’s order.

This same type of analysis applies to Asset Protection. A judgment in the USA has little or no effect in any other country. In all cases, a US judgment from a lawsuit (as opposed to an arbitration award) simply has to be re-litigated to be enforceable.

The concept is simple: As long as a Plan is established when the financial seas are calm, so that there is no risk of any fraudulent conveyance issues, it is safe to assume that assets sitting abroad in a major bank, unrelated to the USA, are safe. Yes, there are some exceptions to this rule and vigilance is required, but this is the normal rule.

Just remember, the USA is a little place, and our laws are generally not important in any other country. Judge White forgot this and had to be reminded by the folks writing the amicus brief.

We should not forget this rule, as it is one of the keys to solid Asset Protection.

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