He can set up business ventures in Cyprus regardless but that wouldn't help him much in most cases as he's then going to trigger all the controlled foreign comp

He can set up business ventures in Cyprus regardless but that wouldn't help him much in most cases as he's then going to trigger all the controlled foreign companies rules and if he renounces his US citizenship he's over the $2 million asset threshold so he'll have an exit tax, I think it's highly unlikely he'll ever do that, though he might be setting up his family members to do so since under most of these programs you get citizenship not only for you but also for your family. Someone in Eric's position will most benefit from the use of trusts and charities to improve his tax position. But Cyprus citizenship has tons of other advantages: 1. Having an EU citizenship allows you to live and spend an unlimited amount of time in any EU member state vs 90 days out of every 180 days for a normal American so if he wants to retire to a beach in Spain for 5 months at a time he can't currently do so but this will allow him to 2. It gives him visa free travel to various parts of the world that he might not otherwise have, most notably Russia. If you're in Eric's position and say you want to do some business and investing in Russia the hassles related to travel might not be worth it for you and it makes it so much easier if you've got a second passport that allows you to go without issue 3. As mentioned you're setting up your family for a future with more options 4. You're creating a back up plan for yourself