The following year after the devastating wrath of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico the 51st state has become a favorite for extremely wealthy Americans looking to keep their money from Uncle Sam . The only catch? They have to cut all ties to the mainland. Wow.

Cocktails and Compliance the party also known for mixing Alcohol with tax advice thrown on a Friday in May at a warehouse turned art gallery in San Juan, guest list confidential. This list had the names of hundreds of super rich and wealthy Americans whom had moved to Puerto Rico to avoid taxes. More than 1,500 mainlanders have established residency in PR since 2012. The Island rebranded itself as a tax haven and the annual cocktails is at the center of their social calendar. 

 At a high table, polishing off a bourbon on the rocks, sat a compact man in his 60s wearing a black T-shirt and black suede loafers, no socks. This was Mark Gold, the Florida-born kingpin of traffic-ticket contesting. Gold has attended Cocktails and Compliance every year since moving to Puerto Rico in 2016. “I was looking at different tax havens,” he said, “Andorra, Lichtenstein, Monaco. But the problem is, you have to give up your U.S. passport. When I heard about this, it was too good to be true. But it’s real. I live in paradise. I live at the Ritz-Carlton. I drive my golf cart to the beach club for breakfast. Then I go to my sunset yoga class on the beach.” 

A waiter offered to replace his drink. “Why not?” said Gold. Only seven months had passed since Hurricane Maria laid waste to the island’s power grid, and one month remained until hurricane season returned. A reliable estimate placed the death toll at 4,600; 11,000 still reportedly lacked electricity. Residents were showering with pots and plastic cups. In Manhattan, a federal judge was trying to mediate between the various hedge funds that held billions of dollars of the island’s debt. Every so often the MIT-educated governor went on television to extol the virtues of austerity.

The mainlanders who have relocated are not quite Forbes-list billionaires, who have access to more complex tax strategies than leaving town; they belong to the middle class of the ultra-rich. They are new-money people who might not have their congressman’s cell-phone number back home but who wield influence here in Puerto Rico. “Back in the States, I’m just one of 300 million voters,” James Slazas, a hedge-fund quant, told me at the party. “Here I’ve already met a lot of the key players.”