News
Miami Judge Tells UBS to Identify U.S. Tax Evaders
printUPDATE: Adds details of the judge's decision in the first and second paragraphs. A federal judge in Miami has granted a U.S. Justice Department request to obtain the bank account information of wealthy investors who may be hiding as much as $20 billion in undeclared assets through Swiss bank giant UBS AG. The Justice Department requested on Monday that the U.S. district court in Miami authorize an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) summons of the Zurich, Switzerland-based bank for information on its U.S. clients. On Tuesday, U.S. district judge John Lenard granted the summons, directing UBS to identify U.S. taxpayers seeking...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
Former UBS AG employee Stephanie Gibaud in 2008 was faced with the choice of whether to comply with her employer's request that she destroy records potentially indicating that the bank had courted tax-evading clients. When she refused, the bank psychologically bullied her until she departed in 2012.
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.
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.
U.S. Fifth Amendment protections cannot shield Bank Secrecy Act reports from grand jury and other subpoenas, two appellate courts have ruled in tax evasion-related cases.
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.
A U.K.-based financial transparency advocacy group is set to publish a list next month of the 60 most abusive tax havens that will include U.S. states and British cities and territories.
It is an exciting time for IRS investigators who are now able to examine the UBS AG accounts of over 4,500 U.S. citizens suspected of hiding assets offshore, according to John Everett, a licensed criminal investigator and certified fraud examiner based in Agoura Hills, California.
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.
The United States has reached a tentative agreement with UBS AG and Switzerland over a bank program that allowed U.S. tax payers to avoid reporting billions of dollars in revenue.
The Obama administration's plans to curb foreign institutions from aiding U.S. tax evaders is short on details, but could block U.S. citizens and residents' access to foreign banks and put a new compliance burden on U.S. institutions, say some tax professionals.
The Internal Revenue Service is seeking information from the nation's largest payment processor on merchants that allegedly use offshore bank accounts to avoid paying taxes, the agency said Wednesday.
Federal authorities Wednesday charged the former head of UBS's offshore private banking division with helping tens of thousands of U.S. clients conceal billions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service.
Swiss bank UBS AG will end its offshore banking services to residents of the United States, a company official told Capitol Hill on Thursday.