It’s probably not as clear cut as you think. Christopher Skase, an Australian businessman of similar but less spectacular ilk, managed to get his passport back and jump ship to Majorca. Australia never managed to get him back, and he died over there. The US probably has more clout, but nonetheless don’t assume that extradition from everywhere worth living is as easy as you might think.
Have you ever visited a third world shithole? My relatives who live in third world shitholes live a damn sight more comfortably than I do. The thing about third world shitholes is that the cheapest commodity is labour and with cheap labour (so long as you have money), you can live a pretty damn good life.
lemur866 I am not sure what you define as a third world shithole.
I live in India. Would you describe this place as one? FYI. I have both a US & a UK passport and was brought up in both countries into a very Waspy family. I can’t think of anywhere in the world that I would rather be at the moment than India. Also, I am a silicon valley venture capitalist, not some disaffected hippy sitting on a beach in Goa.
Give me my cook, driver, maid, masseuse, pedicurist etc etc @ $5 a day over the rest of my life in jail!
So far, this thread is leading me to believe that, were I in the same situation as Ebbers, I ought to think seriously about getting out of the country, changing my appearance and sitting for the rest of my life on a beach in Thailand.
There are thirld-world parts of the United States. “Third-World” really only applies if you’re poor. For everything else, there’s your Bank of Martinique debit Mastercard.
Exactly. Unlike me, my third-world-dwelling cousins never have to do the following things for themselves if they don’t want to –
Cook, wash dishes, launder/press/repair/put away clothes, sweep, clean toilets/bath, drive themselves to work, fetch lunch at the office (or bring it from home), make midday tea, wash the car, buy train/airplane tickets, change the baby’s diaper, fetch the newspaper etc. etc. etc. Plus they get tailored clothing dirt cheap.
Based on my understanding of events, if Ebbers had had large amounts of assets that could be easily liquidated with no questions asked, he wouldn’t have gotten himself into this fix in the first place.