Ugland House is what's known as an "address of convenience" for many of the 70,000 U.S. and other foreign companies, limited partnerships and trusts that are based in this Caribbean locale.

In recent months, these offshore operations of U.S. companies have been under scrutiny in Congress, where some lawmakers say the U.S. Treasury may be losing millions of tax dollars.

Many U.S. companies have subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands, including energy giant El Paso Corp., hotelier Marriott International Inc., aerospace giant Boeing Co., and food producers Sara Lee Corp. and Coca-Cola Co.
Story here at the San Fransisco Chronicle.