High Rise

We all know how the rich game the system. Seems it also works in real estate as well.

For more than a year, The New York Times examined the influx of global cash fueling the city’s high-end real estate boom. The investigation pierced the secrecy of more than 200 shell companies that have owned condominiums at one complex, the Time Warner Center.

The Times found:

■ Nearly half of the most expensive residential properties in the United States are now purchased anonymously through shell companies.

■ The real estate industry does little examination of buyers’ identities or backgrounds, and there is no legal requirement for it to do so.

■ At the Time Warner Center, 37 percent of the condominiums are owned by foreigners. At least 16 foreigners who have owned in the building have been the subject of government inquiries, either personally or as heads of companies.

Same as it ever was. - Talking Heads