A Hedge Fund Tax Dodge Uses Bermuda Reinsurers

Last year, about $450 million belonging to top executives at billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson’s New York firm made a quick round trip to Bermuda. In April the executives sent the money to a reinsurance company called PaCRe they’d set up on the island. By June, PaCRe had sent all the cash back to New York, to be invested in Paulson & Co. funds. By recycling the funds through Bermuda, which doesn’t levy a corporate income tax, the Paulson executives are positioned to exploit a little-known loophole, reducing their personal income taxes and delaying paying the bill for years.