Feds raid Cat HQ
Thursday, Mar 2, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Peoria Journal Star…
Federal officials executed a search warrant at three Caterpillar, Inc. facilities in the Tri-County Area — including the corporate headquarters — Thursday morning.
Company officials confirmed the presence in a statement without specifying which agency was performing the search or what the search was in regard to. A spokeswoman declined by email to provide further details.
“Caterpillar is cooperating,” the brief statement said.
* ZeroHedge…
At least some of the agents entering the headquarters building wore jackets bearing an Internal Revenue Service logo, others appeared to be from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Others simply denoted that they were federal agents. A placard in the window of one of the federal vehicles noted it was used by police from the U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security Office of Export Enforcement.
IRS, FDIC and the Security Office of Export Enforcement? This doesn’t look good.
* Video…
- Louis Capricious - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:15 am:
=== At least some of the agents entering the headquarters building wore jackets … ===
Never heard of ZeroHedge, but that paragraph is verbatim from the Journal Star.
- Pudding - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:20 am:
https://www.google.com/finance?q=Cat&ei=NFS4WJGgOZKDsAHepov4Cw
- Honeybear - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:20 am:
Oh that’s bad. That’s really really bad. Dear God
- Wow - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:20 am:
Probably a few less executives will be making the big move to Chicago.
- OkComputer - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:22 am:
Former CAT guy Mr. Oberhelman has been in DC quite frequently lately…
- Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:23 am:
HOLY CRAP. This looks really bad. Really really bad.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:24 am:
Time to lawyer up.
- Curl of the Burl - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:28 am:
Well…since Matt Damon played the main character in “The Informant” then it stands to reason that Ben Affleck must play the main character in the movie about this debacle.
- OkComputer - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:28 am:
“Throw the Book Thursday”
- Southern Dawg - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:29 am:
Maybe they’re not playing ball with The Donald?
- wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:30 am:
–”Caterpillar is cooperating…”–
Yeah, well, they have a search warrant. Not a choice, unless you’re going to go all Bundy family.
FDIC is a puzzler. Maybe they just called in all the federales in the area to execute the warrant?
- Puddintaine - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:34 am:
Inform now! And get extra turnips next winter.
- Truthteller - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:37 am:
Perhaps Oberhelman should have been paying a little less attention to worker’s comp and a little more to whatever else the company has been doing. WC is the least of CAT’s problems
- Robert the Bruce - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:38 am:
A whistleblower angry that they’re moving the hq out of Peoria?
Like many big corporations, Cat has a pretty large accounting team devoted to avoiding taxes.
- Soccermom - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:38 am:
Holy cow.
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:43 am:
maybe they should forget Chicago and move their headquarters to Terra Haute to be close to the prison
- Puddintaine - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:45 am:
Zombie Alan Rickmann has taken over the top floor. Demands bearer bonds…
- 47th Ward - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:46 am:
They haven’t even moved to Chicago yet and they’re already under federal investigation. They are going to fit right in.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:49 am:
Between Schock and CAT, the river must be crawling with federales. Big Al’s must be jumping.
- OkComputer - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:52 am:
Who Got Played in Peoria?
- Moe Berg - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:56 am:
Oberhelman, who loved to lecture Illinois elected officials about what a poor job they were doing, made terrible business decisions, shed lots of jobs, and saw his company lag the growth in the S&P 500 by 57% during his tenure (Jul. 1, 2010 - Dec., 31, 2016). This could be an incredible topper to an undistinguished career.
- Annonin' - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 11:59 am:
Local radio has pre-empted both mid day whack jobs —Glenn Beck and Rush — to report almost nothing new. Also takin’ calls from listeners who sharin’ some of the great love that has developed since they told everyone their big checks were headed for CHI to be closer to the airport.
Maybe BigBrain should cruise by now that he is down wreckin’ the Grand B*
- Anon221 - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:03 pm:
A commenter on an outside blog posted this as a possible reason why the raid took place-
https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/02/19/caterpillars-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day/#7a0df4be6d38
- Puddintaine - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:10 pm:
After posting fifty plus months of losses, what could possibly be worse? This just in:
- Soccermom - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:20 pm:
Anon221 — fascinating.
Soccermom would like to assign someone to check out the political contributions of Oberhelman and the rest of Cat’s management team. (Would do it myself, but I am pretending to work…)
- Anon221 - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:22 pm:
Second try:
From just a few days ago…
“Oberhelman, who also is chairman of a White House working group on infrastructure, extended an invitation to Trump to come operate a Caterpillar tractor. The president appeared to accept, saying he might come do so soon.”
http://www.pjstar.com/news/20170223/trump-to-oberhelman-i-love-caterpillar
- notbuyingit - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:24 pm:
My $ on Trump told them not to move to Chicago. Anti-Rham all the way. Like it or not, he is the Prez now, and it doesn’t seem he minds being obvious about his tactics.
- West Sider - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:31 pm:
If Anon221 is correct, then Pricewaterhouse is having the worst week for an accounting firm since Arthur Anderson.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:36 pm:
Anon221, thanks for the link.
Multi-billion tax evasion scheme moves to top of list.
If this goes bad, CAT might end up with some fines and penalties, based on history.
Let’s hope no one shoplifted a $300 coat. That would be a felony and you could get prison time.
- hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:43 pm:
The hits just keep coming for the Central Illinois economy. Ugh.
- Anon221 - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:54 pm:
Forbes Update:
“On January 30, Caterpillar received a proposed $1 billion in tax increases and penalties from an IRS Revenue Agent’s Report due to profits it earned in non-U.S. subsidiaries, including Caterpillar SARL. The IRS deemed some Caterpillar transactions between subsidiaries as invalid based on doctrines of “substance-over-form” and “assignment of income,” thus creating new taxable income. It also disallowed roughly $125 million of foreign tax credits from financing arrangement between subsidiaries. Caterpillar has been contesting these IRS findings, according to securities filings.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2017/03/02/caterpillars-headquarters-raided-by-federal-authorities-including-doj-and-irs/#5f3d8d906f3a
- Newsclown - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:55 pm:
Well, Cat’s accountants are Price Waterhouse Coopers, so mabey the entire raid is a mistake and the winner is… John Deere.
- Texas Red - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:58 pm:
==profits it earned in non-U.S.
Yet another reason for a reduction in us corp tax rates.
- Try-4-Truth - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 1:11 pm:
- Newsclown - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 12:55 pm:
Well, Cat’s accountants are Price Waterhouse Coopers, so mabey the entire raid is a mistake and the winner is… John Deere.
Shut it down. This is the best comment on the internet today. No use trying to come up with a better one.
- Back Tracker - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 1:13 pm:
-News Clown- that would be hilarious if PWC is the accounting firm!!!!
- Aim to Misbehave - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 1:34 pm:
Looks like it’s related to alleged tax evasion by attributing profits to its Swiss subsidiary.
http://www.week.com/story/34650345/exclusive-law-enforcement-searching-for-docs-related-to-cats-swiss-business
- TinyDancer(FKASue) - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 1:38 pm:
Searching for the cash looted from CAT retiree benefits.
- Illinoisian - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 2:07 pm:
Alphabet soup + windbreakers are the stuff of nightmares…
- Annonin' - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 2:14 pm:
Looks like Trump and his regullations busters did not arrive quite soon enough to help Mr Big CAT. Since Forbes reportin’ and subpoena indicates this part of a years long probe gotta wonder why the G needed to “raid”
- wordslinger - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 2:20 pm:
Annonin, before someone higher up caught wind of it and tried to shut it down?
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 2:42 pm:
Hey, watch that now West Sider lol. I’m already upset that someone beat me to the PwC joke.
Interesting to watch a “raid” where big boxes are wheeled in, not wheeled out. Too late to hit the delete key, fellas.
The FDIC, I believe, has some jurisdiction over the use of banks in “corrupt transactions.”
The only guy who can be having a worse day than the new Cat CEO is quite ironically, the United States Attorney General.
- Arthur Andersen - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 2:47 pm:
word, alternatively there may have been some negotiations about resolving the matter which, er, reached an impasse, and the Feds decided to strengthen their hand.
No apparent FBI. Interesting.
- TinyDancer(FKASue) - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 3:26 pm:
=The only guy who can be having a worse day than the new Cat CEO is quite ironically, the United States Attorney General.=
Which could explain the timing.
- Been There - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 3:51 pm:
===-News Clown- that would be hilarious if PWC is the accounting firm!!!!====
BackTracker it is. They mention them in the Forbes story
- gdubya - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 3:53 pm:
All part of the Russian interference of our elections. They need to get the Russian biz back, Trump wanted to help.
- ZH - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 4:17 pm:
That’s quite a comment at 202 pm on ZH
- blue dog dem - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 4:36 pm:
Why do I get the feeling that a bunch of hourly,middle class union workers will be the only ones who will feel any pain if this goes sour.
- PENSIONS ARE OFF LIMITS - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 4:53 pm:
The heralded job creators and innovators getting raided by the Feds? Has someone been misleading about their valuable role in society the last decade?
- lost in the weeds - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 5:19 pm:
Some the jobs created by this job creator indicated by the lettering on the jackets entering the building are policeman, federal agent, IRS employee. Whatever it takes./s
- PENSIONS ARE OFF LIMITS - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 7:10 pm:
“Some the jobs created by this job creator indicated by the lettering on the jackets entering the building are policeman, federal agent, IRS employee. Whatever it takes./s”
No snark: Hence the republicans don’t like big government. It’s all coming out for the world to see, but there’s just one problem. Nobody is paying attention. MADIGAN!
- Mama - Thursday, Mar 2, 17 @ 8:30 pm:
I’m sure Jeff Session, the United States Attorney General, will get CAT off the hook. Don’t worry CATS, Papa will take care of y’all.