In Puerto Rico, tax breaks enacted in 2012 aimed to juice the economy by encouraging mainland U.S. citizens to do business and live on the island, where they could apply to pay nothing in capital gains taxes. But the tech — and primarily crypto — entrepreneurs who showed up in droves to shield their wealth didn’t do much to improve its fortunes, judging by recent data. Some have instead left a mess of unfinished business in their wake, suggests the New York Times in a new report that zooms in most closely on Brock Pierce, a 43-year-old former child actor who created the currently beleaguered digital currency Tether, and whose local business dealings – including a real estate buying spree – have been ill-fated and short-lived.
