Dennis Gilbert, Top Dodger Suitor, Got Rich Selling Tax Avoidance Schemes To The Super-Wealthy

• You should be ashamed of yourself stigmatizing someone who is legally following the law.   

• i know dennis gilbert and i trust dennis gilbert.  as a matter of fact, dennis gilbert is someone to whom i would give my power of attorney to take care of my wife, children and my mother.  and he knows baseball as good as anyone in the country.... i echo the comment as others have written, you owe dennis gilbert a huge apology!!

• Socially useful - like writing Goebbelsian articles for LA Weekly, right?

• You mean he helped people keep more of what they earned?  The devil.

• I think your characterization of Dennis Gilbert is way OFF BASE (pun intended) and that he is owed an apology and a retraction before he sues you for LIBEL. He has been my insurance man for life insurance and disability insurance for over 30 yrs. His job is to advise and protect me and my family for our insurance needs to the best of his ability (which is substantial) for the eventual death of both me and my wife. I buy life insurance so that my wife will have the money TO PAY the death taxes on my demise. I can't believe there is anyone reading this, that does not want to LEGALLY avoid some tax consequences or find an honest way for their surviving spouse to pay taxes with the life insurance proceeds. so that the surviving spouse does not have to sell their home on the death of his/her loved one, to pay taxes.  That is what he does. Why vilify this professional insurance agent who is HONEST, COMPETENT and CARING? That is just not fair and not the American way. As an attorney, if Mr. Gilbert contacted me, I would take his case pro bono to sue you and your company for DEFAMATION of CHARACTER.........Please govern yourself accordingly and retract your comments................... dale gribow.......attorney at law.........palm desert california.

• Read above... He is not a tax planner. The author didn't do his research. Dennis sells insurance. Wealthy people buy insurance to PAY their taxes due upon their death. Please march on the CPAs and tax lawyers and congresspersons if you have a beef about loopholes.

• Like I said I'm glad he donate his money to do so, because "OUR" kids need these outlets! BUT at what expense does it cost the tax payers? It's a really undivided road, and it's something that has to be looked at.  I'm not stating that he didn't work hard, but the tax loops for super rich have got to stop. 

• @01ccb760127ddac6aa914e060027de9d:disqus's comment is exactly why the LA Weekly must make a HUGE RETRACTION and APOLOGY to Mr. Gilbert regarding this uninformed, incendiary article. Mr. Gilbert is life insurance salesman.  He rolls up his sleeves and works for a living just like a health club or car salesman to make an insurance policy sales commission. He has been trashed here just because he might have a role to play in the new ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  I guess no one can buy the Dodgers because they are all the super-wealthy.  Now, as a result of the LAW here...Mr. Gilbert is being trashed for his philanthropy.  How dare he donate to inner city kids...obviously at the expense of the middle class. The LA Weekly is SICK!

• you said: the first service offered is "tax saving strategies." Below that, there's this: "We make sure our clients' assets are not lost to unnecessary income or estate taxes."  Let's see how a Life Insurance Salesperson offers a "tax savings strategy" and how they help a client prevent lose assets to unnecessary income/estate taxes: Example:  85 year old man with an estate tax liability of $10 million dollars upon his death.  Choice 1 is to die uninsured and the family is liable for $10,000,000 due to the government. The estate is immediately$10,000,000 less valuable. The family could be forced to sell unique assets to cover the liability (e.g. a family business, farm, sentimental home) devaluing the estate even more. Choice 2 is to purchase a $10,000,000 life insurance policy with a $2,000,000 per year premium. The life insurance policy is placed to cover the taxable liability and protect assets such as a family business, farm, or multi-generational home. If the 85 year old man dies in 3 years then he only paid $6,000,000 in insurance premiums so the insurance carrier can pay $10,000,000 for taxes. The client/estate saved $4,000,000 and retained the substantial value of the estate.  If the client lives to 92 then he paid $14,000,000 in premiums to cover $10,000,000. However, the policy provides inheritance certainty to the client and his estate.  Either way the government gets their tax. Like you stated... "If the estate tax were zero, Gilbert would be out of work." Mr. Gilbert benefits from unavoidable tax liabilities because he can propose to assure its payment through a life insurance policy. I suggest you make amends with Mr. Gilbert and consider writing an upbeat expose on the man.

• I'm sure Mr. Gilbert got some great tax loops when he donated baseball fields to inner city kids, I'm glad he did it, because we need it. But at what expense does the middle class have to suffer even more? Most of the parents in the inner city who's kids get to play on these field have to pay the price of the fields, that's not right! I'm sure they pay more taxes then Mr. Gilbert does!!

• Fix the tax code but don't hate someone who knows how to use it to their advantage, that's what a good CPA is paid to do.

• Gene, This article is ridiculous.  You hit all the buzz words to try to get readers worked up without having any knowledge about what Mr. Gilbert even does.  Would it make you feel better to know that the big bad insurance companies are the ones who are essentially paying the estate taxes to the Federal Government? I would be willing to bet that if you did something "socially useful" and became wealthy Mr. Gilbert would be on your speed dial.  The only good thing about this article is that before I read it I hadn't even heard of Dennis Gilbert.  After doing some research I think he would be a great owner of the Dodgers.  

• Ok, God!

• i also tried this coz somebody told me......@Lukes, my buddy's ex-wife makes $73/hr on the computer. She has been without work for 8 months but last month her income was $8195 just working on the computer for a few hours. Here's the site NuttyRich.c0m

• Gene: Admit that you screwed up here.  Your headline says "Avoidance Schemes" and you state: "Translated into English, that means that Gilbert makes money by helping rich people avoid paying their estate taxes." His site says tax savings....not avoidance...not schemes.  For a moment lets assume his site contained "loopholes", "avoidance" , "shelter" , "tax credit" , "write-off" , or any other incendiary words that make you "feel a little twinge of uneasiness with Gilbert's line of work(your words)."  Mr. Gilbert is merely a life insurance salesman. He can only be compensated directly for what he is licensed to do...sell policies that pay/reimburse for an estate tax payment.  He cannot be paid to do accountant or legal work.  His clients might retain those professionals but they are others, not Mr. Gilbert.  If you can think this through....Mr. Gilbert presumably makes more money ensuring a high estate tax burden than one "avoided." You must be fuming at all the tax avoidance going on with solar power installation.  Consumers and businesses get a 30% federal tax grant for the cost of their system (pure tax avoidance). Consumers and businesses do not have property tax on the value of their solar equipment (pure tax avoidance). Consumers and businesses are eligible for several other tax incentives and publicly funded rebates up to 75% of the cost of their solar system (further tax avoidance).  Much of the solar pitch is founded on tax avoidance.  Dennis Gilbert's salesmanship of life insurance necessitates the paying or replacing estate tax funds with the proceeds of a life insurance policy. Again, Sheesh!  LA Weekly should be absolutely ashamed of this unfounded hit piece intended to: make you "feel a little twinge of uneasiness with Gilbert's line of work (your words)."  

•  You want “socially useful”?  Well here it is! Dennis Gilbert has made a great deal of money.  But unlike the present owner of the Dodgers, every nickel that Dennis earned was earned with hard work. The poor kid from South Central Los Angeles made it big. What-a-story!  Dennis is perhaps the biggest Dodger fan in the city and one of the most knowledgeable baseball minds in the game.  But the real Dennis Gilbert story is more about his generosity and philanthropy to the community and to the game he loves.  You would do a great service for your readers and for Dodger fans if you wrote about the contributions Dennis has made for the under privileged youngsters in Los Angeles. Dennis funded the inner city baseball field near Gardena where he grew up. “The Dennis Gilbert Field” as well as the R.B.I. foundation, which promotes baseball for inner city youth, are lasting testaments to a man that has not forgotten his roots. Dennis was also a co-founder of the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation.  The Foundation serves the oft forgotten older scouts that frequently need financial assistance and support for one reason or another.  The Foundation has raised hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars mostly from the annual event held at the Century Plaza Hotel put on by Dennis.  Every major name in baseball supports Dennis for this most worthy cause.  The full extent of Dennis’s charitable work will never be known, because for the most part, he never talks about it. No other potential owner of the revered Dodger organization is more deserving than Dennis Gilbert.  Not for what he’s earned, but for what he gives.

• On the Gilbert-Krupin website, under "wealth transfer planning," the first service offered is "tax saving strategies." Below that, there's this: "We make sure our clients' assets are not lost to unnecessary income or estate taxes." Seems pretty open and shut to me. That's not to say that's illegal or even unethical. You play by the rules that are in place. It's merely to suggest that there are more socially useful ways to make money.

• Slanderous

• Gene, I believe you owe Mr. Gilbert a huge apology and the LA Weekly owes a MAJOR Retraction of this article.  Insurance agents do not sell tax avoidance.  Insurance agents sell life insurance policies that cover the cost of the estate taxes to ensure the taxes get paid. Insurance agents also sell life insurance policies to ensure a remaining elderly spouse or young children have a preplanned financial path should the "breadwinner" die. Gene, you state: "If the estate tax were zero, Gilbert would be out of work." You are absolutely correct, you imbecile.  Mr. Gilbert profits BECAUSE HIS WORK ENSURES THE ESTATE TAX LIABILITY IS COVERED AND PAID/OFFSET BY THE INSURANCE POLICY HE SELLS. Lawyers and Accountants provide tax avoidance advice.  Are you besmirching any lawyers and accountants publicly like you have recklessly decided to do with Mr. Gilbert?  Sheesh! FWIW, I do not sell life insurance but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

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