Not long ago, U.S. settlements in the hundreds of millions of dollars for violations of American law by a foreign bank seemed unlikely, if not out of the realm of possibility altogether. Then came the $780 million deferred prosecution agreement with UBS AG in 2009.
If the acquittal of Raoul Weil earlier this week was for Swiss bankers a sign of hope and for American prosecutors a signal disappointment, it was both for a single reason. The verdict reflected the limits to U.S. ambitions to punish foreign bankers.
Thirty-four nations disclosed a finalized model plan Monday to regularly share financial data for tax enforcement purposes as part of a broader crackdown on tax dodgers and offshore jurisdictions.
An influential Senate subcommittee will hear testimony on tax evasion through offshore banks, Switzerland agrees to follow automatic data exchange standards and more, in this week's news roundup.
The U.S. Justice Department seizes digital funds tied to an Internet black market, Republicans line up behind effort to fight FATCA and more, in this week's news roundup.
China prohibits the trading of bitcoins by financial institutions over money laundering concerns, the U.K. closes 100 suspicious Bank of Cyprus accounts, and more, in this week's news roundup.
Financial trade groups are asking the U.S. Treasury Department for more time to comply with intergovernmental agreements intended to shine a light on bank accounts held by American tax dodgers.
A Geneva court's ruling clearing the way for bankers to know whether their employers have identified them to American investigators threatens to complicate a negotiated U.S.-Swiss tax deal, say sources.
In his 12-year career as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, Daniel W. Levy has investigated and prosecuted several banks, bankers, and financial services advisors that facilitated the evasion of U.S. taxes through the use of complicit offshore financial institutions.
An expected plan to resolve a U.S.-Swiss tax dispute will likely prompt a wave of disclosures by American taxpayers and clear the way for banks to turn over data on their employees.
Swiss financial institutions will likely exploit gaps in a bilateral agreement between the United States and Switzerland to preserve bank secrecy for their clients, says the bestselling author of a book on money laundering.
An expected pitch Friday by Switzerland's executive branch to clear the way for banks to share data with the United States is likely to face stiff domestic challenges, say Swiss attorneys.
A plan to require member-states of the European Union to automatically exchange tax-related data in an effort to boost government revenues is likely to face political and logistical challenges.
An expected agreement between the United Kingdom and Switzerland to tax half of the income of Britons keeping undeclared assets in Swiss bank accounts is a significant step backward in the fight against bank secrecy, say tax reform advocates.
Switzerland will begin disclosing account data on nearly 4,000 UBS AG clients within a week after Swiss lawmakers Thursday approved the handover, marking an unprecedented exception to the country's bank secrecy laws.
The head of the Senate's powerful Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is pushing for the establishment of international agreements to penalize banks known to help tax evaders.
The U.S. Justice Department settlement with one of Switzerland's largest banks that requires the bank to divulge the names of thousands of suspected tax evaders could provide just one more trail leading investigators to financial institutions in Asia.
Mike Flowers, a former counsel to the Permanent Subcommittee on Intelligence, discusses the committee's hearing on tax evasion by UBS AG and LGT Bank, in the second half of a two-part interview.
Switzerland's largest bank disputed claims Wednesday that it was balking at U.S. demands for information on 52,000 undeclared accounts suspected to belong to tax evaders.
Switzerland's largest bank will pay $780 million to the United States for helping 17,000 U.S. citizens evade paying taxes on offshore revenue, the U.S. Justice Department said Wednesday.