In 1984, Mitt Romney tapped "an eclectic roster of investors" to jump start the investment fund Bain Capital.
Who were these investors?
"Previously unreported documents" reveal that one third of the original 37 million dollars raised was from "rich Latin Americans including powerful families from El Salvador living in Miami during their country's brutal civil war."
"At that time US officials were publicly alleging some exiles in Miami were funding right-wing death squads in El Salvador."
"Some family members of the first Bain Capital investors were later implicated as backing groups responsible for killings, though no evidence indicates the relatives invested in Bain or benefitted from it."
"Romney has said he checked the investors' backgrounds. His campaign and Bain Capital declined to provide specifics."
Considerable amounts of early money invested in Bain was channelled through banks in Panama "then one of the world's most secretive jurisdictions, which offered confidentiality and tax advantages."
"The use of an offshore corporation to invest in a US business shields foreign investors from estate taxes . . . ."
Source: "Inside the Origins of Romney's Bain Capital," Baltimore Sun, July 19, 2012, p. 10.
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