“He wanted to keep his barge a surprise"

February 21, 2025 12:19 AM

What distinguished Landi from a run-of-the-mill fraudster, though, was the outlandishness of his maneuvers, which exploited every loophole the globe had to offer. Landi was a libertarian who sought freedom from meddling governments and their cumbersome regulations, but in a select few nations, he found willing accomplices. Landi hid money in Switzerland, skated around extradition treaties while living comfortably in Dubai, registered companies in bespoke tax-free zones, procured diplomatic credentials from Liberia, dabbled in crypto and, finally, took to the sea, where there was no one to tell him what to do. from The Man Who Got Away [New York Times; ungated]
posted by chavenet (28 comments total)

On that day in February, though, their repairs did not hold, and the offshore existence that Landi had built for himself was suddenly imperiled: not by the laws of nations, for once, but by the laws of nature.

Between this and the bears, I'm starting to see ibertarianism as essentially schadenfreude-as-a-service.
posted by flabdablet at 3:36 AM on February 21 [15 favorites]

At a certain point don’t you have to ask yourself “Am I sure this is better than going to jail?”
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:02 AM on February 21 [8 favorites]

Knowing people who’ve been to jail, and without even reading this, I can confidently say yes, the worst day free is better than the best day in jail.
posted by toodleydoodley at 5:14 AM on February 21 [5 favorites]

Have been to jail; can confirm. And the sea may not tell you what to do, but the sea also doesn't bargain with you.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:49 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]

in case anyone's wondering: it's a really good read. they did the research and they wrote the heck out of it.

also, and admittedly this is a journalist thing, but.. "Atossa Araxia Abrahamian" is just about the coolest-looking byline I've ever seen.
posted by martin q blank at 6:52 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]

I mean I actually did read it and it was really good. It’s just that jail is almost unimaginably bad.
posted by toodleydoodley at 7:12 AM on February 21 [2 favorites]

Abrahamian is also the author of The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World. It's good.
posted by box at 7:20 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]

In the seasteading community, Landi is remembered as a heroic figure.

Says all I need to know about the seasteading community.
posted by scruss at 7:39 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]

Sea steading is a great example of how an ideology inevitably gets shaped by physical reality if it exists long enough. The one successful example of sea steading has morphed into a recognizable ideology: Dutch-ness. "You pump or you drown."

The idea of sea-steading hosting any other kind of ideology or identity is demonstrably ridiculous.
posted by ocschwar at 8:35 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]

What was "the one law he couldn't dodge"? Archimedes' Principle?

Anyway, L. Ron Hubbard also took to the water as a respite from his legal complications. Only he formed his own Navy and was attended aboard ship by young girls in halter tops and hot pants, which I think is the way to go.
posted by Lemkin at 8:44 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]

Gross, Lemkin.
posted by clew at 10:24 AM on February 21 [26 favorites]

what about the kitties??? :(
posted by supermedusa at 10:32 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]

also, mentioned on the blue before, but Moneyland by Oliver Bullough, is a fascinating read about how these tax havens and dodges were created and evolved to abet these fraudsters in their ridiculous lives. (poor kitties)
posted by supermedusa at 10:35 AM on February 21 [4 favorites]

“If you are libertarian like we are, you want your freedom. And your freedom is finished when the freedom of others starts. This is the key point.”

Says the scorpion to the snake.

And yet, we’re told he put work into rescuing poor Liberians.
posted by clew at 10:58 AM on February 21 [3 favorites]

Mod note: Only he formed his own Navy and was attended aboard ship by young girls in halter tops and hot pants, which I think is the way to go.

While you no doubt meant no harm by sharing this thought with the community, please keep in mind that "young girls" has all sorts of connotations in this context. it's easy for others to infer illegal and/or immoral actions occurring here, so please keep that in mind when making comments in the future, thanks.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 2:39 AM on February 22 [3 favorites]

I suspect the sexism might be more of the problem than "maybe these 'girls' he refers to could be 17". Just a thought.
posted by sagc at 5:13 AM on February 22 [17 favorites]

Um, porque no los dos?
posted by supermedusa at 8:02 AM on February 22 [3 favorites]

well, the note only mentions one, so porque indeed?
posted by sagc at 9:06 AM on February 22 [5 favorites]

Okay, let us say that creeping on underage girls falls under the broader umbrella of sexism implicitly. Does that satisfy your stringent requirements? I thought it was a good mod note.
posted by supermedusa at 9:08 AM on February 22 [2 favorites]

I would prefer that women not be objectified regardless of our age, thanks.
posted by lapis at 11:13 AM on February 22 [13 favorites]

This side conversation about deleting the comment about the asshole who lived on a boat might be derailing the conversation about the other asshole who lived on a boat.
posted by box at 11:21 AM on February 22 [3 favorites]

It reads as sarcasm to me, implying that Lemkin very much does not think it's "the way to go." Horrible person does horrible thing, dials it up to 11, followed by deadpan "which I think is the way to go" to defuse the awfulness. I get that this is also a tactic people use to dogwhistle, but also, assume good faith?

Anyway, cool, Landi managed to kill himself and two other people, not to mention whatever ecological damage a sunk barge does. Also, he kept talking about "Gatling gun?" Isn't that an 1860s machine gun? Do people still talk about Gatling guns as a serious item of defence? Or is this an indication that he was a "Civil War enthusiast," if you know what I mean?
posted by surlyben at 11:36 AM on February 22 [3 favorites]

good thing those halter tops didn't have any creamed corn on them or that comment would've gotten deleted so fast
posted by mittens at 12:14 PM on February 22 [16 favorites]

Also, he kept talking about "Gatling gun?" Isn't that an 1860s machine gun? Do people still talk about Gatling guns as a serious item of defence?

Yes. People still sometimes refer to modern, multi-barrel, rotary weapons as "gatlings."
posted by A forgotten .plan file at 12:40 PM on February 22 [3 favorites]

Is base sexism allowed in the moderation guidelines? What if he said "young fucking women?" "Fucking prick L. Ron Hubbard wants to keep his barge a surprise?" Deletion for swearing?
posted by kensington314 at 2:05 PM on February 22 [5 favorites]

(MetaTalk)
posted by box at 3:55 PM on February 22 [3 favorites]

Really gross, Lemkin.
posted by Scout405 at 5:17 PM on February 22 [3 favorites]

Really gross, Lemkin. Super poor form, Brandon. Both comments flagged, because we all know flags = mod action
posted by donnagirl at 8:47 AM on February 23 [1 favorite]