Countries pursuing billions in unpaid taxes push region’s wealthy to pull cash from accounts LONDON — Switzerland’s private bankers fear cash-strapped Latin American countries pursuing billions of dollars in unpaid taxes will push the region’s wealthy to pull cash from their Swiss bank accounts. For these banks, still recovering from… – Continue reading
The investigation and prosecution of tax evasion has, in the last decade, grown from a specialised subcategory of law enforcement into a first-tier policy concern for the global community.Starting with the US government’s crackdown on Swiss bank UBS in 2008, there has been a steady drumbeat of news about prosecutions… – Continue reading
The investigation and prosecution of tax evasion has, in the last decade, grown from a specialized subcategory of law enforcement into a first-tier policy concern for the global community. Starting with the U.S. government’s crackdown on Swiss bank UBS in 2008, there has been a steady drumbeat of news about… – Continue reading
Shortly before New Year’s, on Wednesday, December 30, 2015, the media reported that Julius Baer Group AG (“JB”) expected to pay about $547 million to settle the U.S. investigation into how the bank (and its bankers) assisted U.S. taxpayers in evading tax. This investigation began more than 4 years ago,… – Continue reading
Two Swiss banks will pay a total of more than $107 million to the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid possible prosecution for helping Americans evade taxes, the department said on Thursday. Bank Lombard Odier & Co. Ltd, a Geneva-based unit of Lombard Odier Group, will pay $99.8 million in… – Continue reading
One of the leading Swiss banks Julius Baer Group AG is set to reach a deal with US authorities over a tax probe by paying $547 million early next year. Julius Baer, Switzerland’s third-largest wealth manager after UBS and Credit Suisse has been under criminal investigation since 2011 by the… – Continue reading
Swiss private banking group Julius Baer Group Ltd. (JBAXY.PK,JBARF.PK) may have to pay more than it anticipated to settle a case with the U.S. Justice Department over American offshore accounts, according to media report quoting people familiar with the matter. The report indicated that the U.S. prosecutors could ask Julius… – Continue reading
Veteran banker says India purchase reflects client demand for onshore private banking advice. Julius Baer’s Asia Pacific head Thomas Meier is preparing to leave Asia after 20 years, but he isn’t leaving Asia behind. The veteran banker, who also worked at Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, will continue to oversee… – Continue reading
Hervé Falciani, who exposed the global offshore industry with the HSBC data leak, is facing prosecution under skewed Swiss laws for data theft and espionage. This is his story. Swiss justice hounds those who breach banking secrecy even if in doing so they expose rogue banks. In the past decade,… – Continue reading
Swiss banking secrecy is no longer viable as the U.S. Justice Department closes in on agreements with most of the institutions that may have helped Americans evade taxes, according to the top American diplomat in Switzerland. Negotiations with about one-third of Swiss lenders, known as Category 2 banks, to finalise… – Continue reading
WASHINGTON — Two more Swiss banks will pay penalties to the United States as part of settlements that mean they will not face criminal charges for helping Americans avoid taxes, US authorities said on Thursday. SB Saanen Bank AG will pay nearly $1.4m and Privatbank Bellerive AG will pay $57,000,… – Continue reading
Julius Baer Group Ltd. rose the most in four months in Zurich trading on speculation a U.S. fine for helping Americans avoid taxes will be lower than analysts had estimated. Switzerland’s third-largest wealth manager said on Tuesday it will take a provision of $350 million this month to settle the… – Continue reading
Swiss banks that aren’t dependent on the country’s crumbling financial secrecy laws may find international expansion easier than those that sold hidden accounts in the past, according to Switzerland’s financial supervisor. “The shift away from businesses which rely on some elements of banking secrecy is changing the perception” of Swiss… – Continue reading
On Thursday, May 28, 2015, the Department of Justice announced that pursuant to its August 29, 2013 Swiss Bank Program, it had reached settlement with four additional Swiss banks. The newest banks to settle, Société Générale Private Banking (Lugano-Svizzera), MediBank AG, LBBW (Schweiz) AG, and Scobag Privatbank AG, will pay… – Continue reading
A US criminal investigation into how Swiss banks such as Julius Baer allegedly helped wealthy Americans to hide their money is likely to stretch into next year, the US ambassador to Switzerland signalled in a newspaper interview, reports Reuters. The criminal probe into a handful of banks has paved the… – Continue reading
* Assets under management down 1 pct to 289 bln Sfr at end-April * Net new money growth at the low end of target range * Shares up 9.2 pct year to date (Adds detail, shares) ZURICH, May 19 (Reuters) – Swiss private bank Julius Baer said its assets under… – Continue reading
At least 21 financial advisers in Switzerland charged with aiding American tax dodgers are at large With its tan marble floors and leather-clad reception desk, the staid Zurich offices of the Julius Baer Group, one of Switzerland’s largest private banks, are an unlikely place to find an alleged fugitive from… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – More Swiss banks that helped wealthy Americans evade taxes will soon strike agreements with the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid prosecution, an official overseeing the U.S. government program told Reuters. “I would stay tuned,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division said… – Continue reading
After 2008, BSI has more than 3,000 US accounts on its books The Lugano-based BSI bank has been fined $211 million (CHF203 million) by the United States for aiding and abetting tax cheats. It is the first Swiss-based bank to complete the non-prosecution programme set up in 2013 to clear… – Continue reading
LIGHTNING RELEASES (1/30/2015) – Attorney Gary S. Wolfe of The Wolfe Law Group is pleased to announce, after 12 years of research, the publication of his 10th book, Offshore Tax Evasion: The IRS and Swiss Banks, now available for immediate download through the Amazon Kindle store. Switzerland is the epicenter… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg)– A Swiss banker who faced more than three years in prison for providing WikiLeaks with confidential details of his former employer’s offshore activities walked out of a Zurich courtroom a free man on Monday. Rudolf Elmer, 59, was given a suspended fine of 16,800 Swiss francs ($19,397) for violating Swiss… – Continue reading
The courtroom victory of the only Swiss banker to beat the U.S. in a trial over offshore tax evasion may embolden other indicted financial workers to leave a legal limbo some have endured more than five years. Twenty-five offshore bankers, lawyers and advisers have yet to answer U.S. Justice Department… – Continue reading
Rudolf Elmer, the former employee of Julius Baer Group Ltd. accused of revealing details of client accounts via WikiLeaks, collapsed at the start of his trial, forcing the court to postpone the case. It was not clear when the trial in Zurich District Court would continue. Proceedings had been under… – Continue reading
Rudolf Elmer, the former employee of Julius Baer Group Ltd. accused of revealing details of client accounts via WikiLeaks, collapsed at the start of his trial, forcing the court to postpone the case. It was not clear when the trial in Zurich District Court would continue. Proceedings had been under… – Continue reading
Swiss private bank Julius Baer is cooperating in a French investigation into suspected money laundering and tax fraud by a former client involved in the European carbon allowances market, a spokeswoman said, following French media reports. News agency AFP said last week the bank is suspected of receiving funds in… – Continue reading
As Switzerland’s long-cherished banking secrecy practices evaporate, the institutions in the world’s largest offshore tax haven are dramatically rethinking their business models in a bid to survive. Already reeling from the painful process of making amends for allowing foreign nationals to hide assets from the taxman back home, the secretive… – Continue reading
GENEVA: As Switzerland’s long-cherished banking secrecy practices evaporate, the institutions that helped create the world’s largest offshore tax haven are dramatically rethinking their business models in a bid to survive. Already reeling from the painful process of making amends for allowing foreign nationals to hide assets from the taxman back… – Continue reading
Feb 24 (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors are widening their probe of how Swiss banks helped wealthy Americans avoid taxes to look at insurers as well, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing unnamed sources. Insurers in Switzerland have been preparing for months for U.S. officials to investigate products known as insurance… – Continue reading
