Republicans Overseas Action, Inc. (ROA) has announced that it will take the fight against FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) to the United States Supreme Court after the 6th Circuit Court affirmed the lower district court’s ruling that none of the plaintiffs in the Crawford et al. vs. US Department of Treasury lawsuit was suffering harm as a result of FATCA, and therefore had no standing to bring the lawsuit; the 6th Circuit Court handed down its decision on Saturday 19 August 2017.
“I am very surprised that the court is unwilling to recognise the very real harm that FATCA is imposing on overseas Americans,” said James Bopp, Jr., lead lawyer for the Plaintiffs. “The court maintains that the decisions of banks not to serve US citizens is just a voluntary decision on their part, not as a result of FATCA. They also state that those citizens who have not filed their FBAR or FATCA forms are under no threat of prosecution. Their analysis is very convoluted and imposes very restrictive standing requirements that are inconsistent with federal law.”
ROA has argued that FATCA harms US citizens, as demonstrated by the testimony of the Plaintiffs. Unfortunately, this court ruling does not reinstate bank accounts or mortgages to overseas Americans denied them by banks afraid of FATCA’s penalties, nor does this ruling remove the very real threat of prosecution by the U.S. Treasury, IRS, and the U.S. Financial Crimes Network against those citizens who have not filed their FBAR and FATCA forms.
Republicans Overseas Action have pledged to continue to fight for the constitutional rights of overseas American citizens and will file an appeal to the U.S Supreme Court.
"Fighting in the U.S. Supreme Court is going to be expensive,” said Solomon Yue, Vice Chairman and CEO of ROA. “We need all privacy-loving overseas Americans to financially support this endeavour so we can get rid of FATCA tyranny once and for all.”
ROA thanked all seven Plaintiffs, who are U.S. citizens, former U.S. citizens, Republicans, and/or non-Republicans, for their continued willingness to defend 9 million overseas Americans and 12.6 million stateside ‘green card’ holders in their fight against FATCA.
“Republicans Overseas’ mission is to defend and uphold the constitutional rights and freedoms of Americans all around the world,” said Michael DeSombre, Worldwide President and member of the Board of Governors of ROA. “FATCA tramples on those rights and removes those freedoms for law-abiding American citizens. Republicans Overseas will continue fighting to the Supreme Court.”
