ALSO BY EDMUND J. PANKAU:

Check It Out: Everyone's Guide to Investigation

How to

Make

$100,000

Year

as a

Private Investigator The Investigator's Guidebook

The P.I. Portfolio

Hide Your

A$$ET$

A Step-by-Step Guide toVanishing Without a Trace

EDMUND J. PANKAU

ReganBooks

An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers

A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1999 by HarperCollins Publishers.HIDE

YOUR ASSETS

AND

DISAPPEAR.

2000

by Edmund J. Pankau. Allrights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be usedor reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information addressHarperCollins Publishers Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotionaluse. For information please write: Special Markets Department, HarperCollins PublishersInc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.First paperback edition published 2000.

The Library of Congress has catalogued the hardcover edition as follows:Pankau, Edmund J.Hide your assets (and disappear) : a step-by-step guide to vanishing without atrace / Edmund Pankau. —1st ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 0-06-018394-21. Commercial crimes—United States. 2. Computer crimes—United States. 3.Finance, Personal—United States—Corrupt Practices. 4. Electronic fund transfers—

United States—Corrupt practices. 5. Fraudulent conveyances—United States. I. Title.

II. Title: Hide your assets.

HV6769.P35 1999

364.16'8—dc21 98-50354

ISBN 0-06-098750-2 (pbk.)

00 01 02 03 04 RRD/* 10987654321

This book is dedicated to the man who taught me all about the

real

waysof life

—

my dad. As a young boy, I watched him beat the system everyday of his life; he got around city officials, entertained the local police,conned the FBI, and beat the IRS like a drum (although they did nab him once for running booze from Canada).

He taught me that everything and everyone has a price. With some it was

money, others it was sex, and once in a while, it was for love.Working

at my

dad's bars,

learned more

about

life

than

any

college or police agency could ever teach. That's what really mademe a good investigator.Thank you, Pop. If there is a devil, I suspect that you haveconned him, too. I miss you more than I could ever say.

This book is for entertainment and informational purposes. It is notintended to offer or replace legal or investment advice. Readers should obtainsuch advice from licensed professionals.It is the author's intention to provide suggestions for the creation andmaintenance of legitimate strategies for asset protection. Please take note thatgreat emphasis is placed on timing. Asset protection actions taken close to thetime when an individual encounters credit or legal difficulties are often noteffective, and may be illegal, depending on the intent of the parties at thetime such actions are taken.With the exception of the names of public figures and the names of peo-ple involved in widely publicized criminal and civil cases, all of the names of people described in anecdotes in the text have been changed and are not thereal names of the people whose experiences are described.