The Wall Street Journal reports that Swiss bank whistleblowers Bradley Birkenfeld and Hervé Falciani are schedule to take part in a panel discussion at the OffshoreAlert Conference in Miami Beach May 3-5. The panel entitled “Inside the UBS & HSBC Leaks,” will take participants “inside the UBS and HSBC leaks… – Continue reading
As tax filing season approaches, Canadians should watch their back in light of the new whistleblower initiatives of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), which will reward those who snoop into other people’s affairs and invade their privacy. Frustrated by cutbacks in staffing levels, the CRA has instead set up an… – Continue reading
The Obama administration is gaining ground in its war against tax cheats, racking up victories in a global crackdown that has made it harder to escape the Internal Revenue Service. President Obama’s battle against offshore tax evaders hasn’t gotten the publicity of some of his other priorities but under his… – 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
European bank shares showed notable improvements in prices last week, benefiting from hopes of Greece evading a crisis coupled with continued strength in the U.S. dollar. Reports that Germany is looking to adopt a new law that will boost the capital position of the country’s banks helped Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB)… – Continue reading
Former UBS AG executive Hansruedi Schumacher pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. as part of the government’s prosecution of financial industry officials who help Americans dodge taxes. Schumacher, 56, entered his plea Thursday in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida. Schumacher, who also worked at Neue Zuercher… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — A former Swiss asset manager pleaded guilty to helping U.S. clients hide millions of dollars in offshore accounts and avoid paying federal income taxes. Peter Amrein, 53, a Swiss citizen, told U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan Tuesday that from 1998 to 2012 he helped Americans evade… – Continue reading
[NEW YORK] A Swiss asset manager pleaded guilty on Tuesday to participating in a scheme to help US citizens hide millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts and evade paying taxes. Peter Amrein, 53, entered his plea in Manhattan federal court to conspiring to defraud the United States and Internal… – 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
In a deal with U.S. prosecutors, Swiss private bank BSI SA agreed today to pay a $211 million penalty and hand over leads on more than 3,000 accounts with U.S. ties, as well as the actual names of an undisclosed, but presumably much smaller group of U.S. account owners. The… – Continue reading
A vote in favor of repealing FATCA sends a message: a message to foreign banks that they can get back to helping wealthy Americans hide their assets and use offshore accounts to evade tax. In anticipation of yesterday’s Senate’s budget resolution “vote-o-rama,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) has introduced an amendment… – Continue reading
ESPN has a great series entitled “30-for-30” where the narrator asks, “What if I told you …?” What if I told you that a state agency, charged with protecting the interests of Hoosiers actually endorsed the bid of an offshore equity fund to buy the Indiana Toll Road lease rights… – Continue reading
The former UBS Group banker whose cooperation with the United States has helped expose tax evasion by thousands of Americans says the Swiss bank used similar practices elsewhere and he’s eager to help European governments. “It’s not a US issue, it’s not a French issue, it’s a global issue. UBS… – Continue reading
In many ways, the tide of public opinion has turned against bankers. Globally, they face more regulation and scrutiny, and many practices long considered just another day in the office are coming under fire. The latest series of scandals to hit global banks has to do with their role in… – Continue reading
Helping tax cheats or money launderers has never been an integral strategy of the Swiss financial centre, Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) chief executive Claude-Alain Margelisch tells swissinfo.ch as the HSBC ‘Swiss Leaks’ scandal continues. The unsavoury activities of HSBC, UBS AG (NYSE:UBS) and others, brought into the public domain by… – Continue reading
(Corrects to show the bank plans to close a representative office in Russia.) (Bloomberg) — UBS Group AG plans to scale back its wealth-management activities in Moscow that serve clients who deposit their funds offshore as Switzerland’s largest bank streamlines operations in some emerging markets, according to two people with… – Continue reading
First there was money laundering, then foreign-exchange rigging and now tax evasion. Politicians and analysts are asking if big banks became too big to manage from being too large to be allowed to fail HSBC Europe’s biggest bank, has endured a string of scandals and paid millions in penalties to… – Continue reading
NEW YORK â?? A founder of famed New York City restaurant Le Périgord faces a potential three-year prison sentence that could take him away from the paragon of traditional French cuisine after he pleaded guilty to hiding income in offshore bank accounts. Georges Briguet, 77, admitted during a Brooklyn federal… – Continue reading
News leaked late last week that Swiss banking giant UBS is again under DOJ investigation for aiding tax fraud by U.S. clients. In 2009, UBS pled guilty to a criminal tax conspiracy charge, and received a deferred prosecution agreement. UBS admitted that thousands of unreported and untaxed accounts at the… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS Group AG banker who won a $104 million whistle-blower award after serving time in prison for tax conspiracy, won a U.S. judge’s permission to testify in France in a separate probe of the Swiss bank. U.S. District Judge William Zloch ruled Tuesday that… – Continue reading
Documents detail customers who faced allegations including drug-running, corruption, doping and money laundering This article is the subject of a legal complaint made on behalf of Anura Perera. HSBC’s Swiss bank concealed large sums of money for people facing allegations of serious wrongdoing, including drug-running, corruption and money laundering, leaked… – Continue reading
A Welsh Scout leader wanting to open a bank account was astonished when he was told he could only do so if he filled in a form for the United States tax authorities. Darren Stockton, who has run a Scout troop in Usk for six years, approached his local branch… – Continue reading
ZURICH–Swiss bank UBS AG posted a slight gain in fourth-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by a significant tax benefit and as it sharply reduced the amount of money set aside to deal with its continuing legal and regulatory issues. Zurich-based UBS said net profit in the quarter rose to 963… – Continue reading
As countries share more information, opportunities to squirrel away cash abroad will continue to narrow AMONG the sins that have most angered the austerity-weary everywhere is the use of undeclared offshore accounts to stash the wealth of the rich. Greeks were particularly enraged when data stolen from Swiss banks showed… – Continue reading
Feb 7 (Reuters) – A former Swiss banker charged by U.S. prosecutors with helping wealthy Americans evade taxes has been arrested in Germany pending extradition to the United States, his lawyer said on Saturday. Roger Keller, a onetime client adviser in Zurich at Wegelin & Co, was one of three… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – U.S. federal prosecutors have launched a new probe into whether Swiss bank UBS AG helped Americans evade taxes through investments banned in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the investigation. UBS, which paid $780 million in 2009 to settle a separate Justice… – Continue reading
Emirates Investment Bank yesterday said its total assets under management jumped 81 per cent last year as the economy boomed and the UAE’s safe haven status continued to attract funds from politically troubled countries in the Middle East and other parts of the world. Total assets under management increased to… – 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
The IRS recently announced an expansion of the list of banks and advisors that trigger the highest penalty bracket within its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program. The addition of Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd. and Bank Leumi to the increased penalty list will have repercussions in Asia, Israel and the United… – Continue reading
Almost every day brings new evidence that the era of bank secrecy for tax evaders using Swiss and “offshore” bank accounts in “tax havens” is over. Both tax authorities and banks are clamping down on unreported offshore accounts. Early in 2014, Swiss bank Credit Suisse agreed to pay fines of… – Continue reading
Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS AG banker who won a $104 million whistle-blower award after serving time in U.S. prison for tax conspiracy, lost a bid to move back to Europe before his probation term ends. U.S. District Judge William Zloch yesterday denied Birkenfeld’s request to let him leave the… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — The number of Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship increased 37 percent in the three months through December and the annual total reached a record level, data published Tuesday showed. The trend likely is accelerating because of a 2010 law that gives the Internal Revenue Service unprecedented access to U.S…. – Continue reading
A US criminal investigation into how Swiss banks helped wealthy Americans hide their money has had an unexpected side effect: shaking out scores of tax cheats among the Swiss themselves. Secrecy laws in Switzerland, the world’s largest offshore financial centre with trillions in assets, have been under siege in recent… – 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
Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. (LUMI) agreed to pay $400 million and admit it helped American clients evade taxes for a decade, in a case showing that U.S. prosecutors and New York regulators are extending their probes of offshore tax evasion beyond Switzerland. The Justice Department filed a conspiracy charge today… – Continue reading
Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS AG banker who won a $104 million whistle-blower award after serving time in U.S. prison for tax conspiracy, now wants to move back to Europe before his term of probation is set to end. Birkenfeld asked a judge to end his probation with less than… – Continue reading
UBS Fund Services has had one of its strongest years in terms of winning new clients according to Monette Windsor (pictured), who heads up the Cayman Islands business. “We’ve invested heavily in our business development team this year and we’ve had to beef up our client onboarding team. We have 165… – Continue reading
NEW YORK – The multiyear federal crackdown on wealthy Americans who duck taxes by hiding income and assets offshore is targeting a Panamanian legal services firm suspected of arranging anonymous banking services. A Manhattan federal judge on Friday approved special summonses for Sovereign Management & Legal. The approval also covered… – Continue reading
Reversing earlier moves taken this summer and fall, a major international bank is ending its cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service’s efforts to prevent investors from investing money in foreign countries with more amenable tax structures and policies, such as Ireland or Switzerland. During a Zurich speech, Barclays bank executive… – Continue reading
A Swiss banker accused of helping U.S. clients cheat on their taxes wants a judge to grant him bail without his having to appear first in a New York courtroom. Stefan Buck, who was Bank Frey & Co.’s head of private banking in Switzerland and an executive board member, was… – Continue reading
The Future of the Department of Justice’s High Visibility Offshore Tax Evasion Initiative. On August 29, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Tax Division announced the Program for Non-Prosecution Agreements and Non-Target Letters for Swiss Banks (the “Program”). The announcement of this unprecedented program was the culmination of the… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Regulators fined six major banks a total of $4.3 billion for failing to stop traders from trying to manipulate the foreign exchange market, following a yearlong global investigation. HSBC Holdings Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc, UBS AG and Bank of… – Continue reading
Nov 5 (Reuters) – Israel arrested 14 people, including a senior UBS investment adviser, as part of an investigation into Israelis allegedly holding undisclosed bank accounts with UBS worth hundreds of millions of euros, the Tax Authority said on Wednesday. All 14 had been released on bail soon after their… – Continue reading
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla./ZURICH — From bundles of cash inside scraps of newspaper to setting up shell companies, the trial in Florida of a former UBS executive is a reminder of the extreme methods some Swiss bankers used to hide clients’ cash. Raoul Weil, 54, is the highest ranking Swiss banker… – Continue reading
UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has had to set aside Sfr1.84bn (or £1.2 billon / $1.9 billion) in legal provisions to pay for possible fines and to settle regulatory investigations. It has also warned shareholders that these costs are likely to be “at elevated levels” for the “forseeable future”. The Swiss… – Continue reading
The secret binder lay wedged in a hidden drawer inside a filing cabinet in his office on the Bahnhofstrasse in Zurich, the heart of the world of Swiss private banking. Martin Liechti, a former top private banker at Swiss bank giant UBS, privately called the binder his “CYA file,” a… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – A key witness in the federal tax evasion trial of a top Swiss bank executive took the stand on Thursday to testify against his former boss, Raoul Weil, who is accused of conspiring to conceal up to $20 billion in U.S. taxpayers’ assets in secret offshore accounts. The… – Continue reading
Echegaray says account holders can take part in country’s fiscal amnesty If Argentines who hold 4,040 undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland don’t normalize their fiscal status and pay their debts, the AFIP tax bureau will file a complaint before the Office of Economic Crime and Money-Laundering (PROCELAC) requesting it investigates… – Continue reading
A former banker at UBS has been found guilty of handing over protected Swiss bank account data to the US, according to a penalty order issued by the Swiss prosecutors’ office. According to the order, the banker was found to have breached Swiss data privacy laws but not its banking… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – Former UBS bank executive Raoul Weil was the mastermind of the Swiss bank’s illegal offshore operations that helped thousands of Americans evade taxes, prosecutors said at the start of his federal trial on Tuesday. Weil, 54, was the third-highest ranked executive at the Zurich-based wealth management firm and… – Continue reading
