Money Laundering and Ozark - How They Got It Wrong

Hollywood screenwriters don’t understand international tax planning. Netflix’s smash hit Ozark is a prime example.
Jimmy Sexton discusses all the things the show get wrongs about setting up foreign entities (so-called “offshore shell companies”), taxes, FATCA, and more.
Make sure to subscribe to stay up to date on our latest videos / @esquiregroup
Visit our website to schedule a call with a member of our team: esquiregroup.com/
Follow us on socials!
Twitter ------------ / esquiregrouptax
LinkedIn---------- / esquiregroup
Facebook ------- / esquiregrouptax
Instagram ------- / esquiregroup
Jimmy Sexton, LL.M. is the Founder & CEO of Esquire Group. Jimmy founded Esquire Group with the objective of helping and inspiring wealthy families, investors, entrepreneurs, and high-level executives obtain and gain control over and protect their wealth, via strategic wealth planning. Jimmy started his career in 2003 and continues to service an elite group of clients. In 2005 Jimmy extended services to include tax preparation, which has evolved into Esquire Group’s exclusive Concierge Tax Service.
This service is offered to a limited number of clients. (submit a request to see if we currently have openings for new clients: esquiregroup.c....
Esquire Group is not your typical international tax and wealth advisory firm; we are international business people and global citizens that strive to continue finding ways to provide value to our clients and enhance their lives, giving them peace of mind.

[@IMHendle1]

The Ozark season one got all the money laundering wrong. Marty starts one of the episodes explaining how the money is laundered. He begins by putting the money in a bag and throwing it in the washing machine because he says its too crisp and clean. !?!?! OK. You do this if you are printing counterfeit money. Washing money has nothing to do with money laundering. This money came from drug deals. It's been in so many crack houses and stripper g-strings you wouldn't want to touch it without gloves! Next he mixes the money with the income from a legitimate business and puts it in the bank. Ok that part is correct, but that's not what he does in the show. He starts out convincing the owner of the Blue cat to let him invest in the lodge. He spends a lot of the drug money fixing up the lodge. He even over-inflates the construction cost. Somehow he thinks this is laundering the money. It would be if he owned the construction company. But he doesn't. You launder money to get it into the banking system without the IRS wondering where it came from. Spending it on an investment and over inflating costs doesn't do that. Sure the lodge looks better and in 5 to 10 years he might recoup the investment. But Del and the drug cartel aren't waiting 5 years for a good ROI. Launderers open or invest in marginal to failing business and then all drug cash to any income the failing business may have. The strip club would have been perfect except he transforms it and in one episode Ruth has a bag, she says, of 80 thousand dollars to deposit and the banks are closed. If the strip club goes from a middling business to making 80 grand in a few days, it will be hard to increase it any further without arising the suspicion of the IRS. Of course he can still send the money to Del, which is all that matters. The building of the Church is the worst. Nothing but construction costs and expenditures. Maybe a good tax write off because it's a religious institution. But it's not Marty's write off and it's certainly not the Cartel's write off. Again over inflation the construction cost only works for the construction company to explain it as profit. And the Snell's needing the boat service to distribute their heroine was a bit of a reach. I'm sure those boats didn't drive back to New York and Miami and Los Angeles. I almost stopped watching the show because of these errors. Then they opened a Casino. At last! A plausible way to launder money! Loved the shows acting and directing. A little more research on the writing would have made it much better.

[@esquiregroup]

Amazing comment!

[@joshuaharris3039]

Nice!

[@esquiregroup]

Thanks!