A Senate report, issued July 16, examines allegations that Swiss bank UBS and LGT, owned by the royal family of Liechtenstein, helped wealthy individuals evade taxes in the United States. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, prepared a 115 page report laying out how eight individuals used offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes, according to The New York Times.
Three of the eight under fire are Frank Lowry, the Australian billionaire who runs the Westfield Group, the world’s largest owner of shopping centers, Richard M. Chong, a venture capitalist, and Harvey Greenfield, the owner of the Commonwealth Toy and Novelty Company, which sells Beverly Hills Pups. According to the NYTimes, the attorney for Lowy, Robert Bennett, called the report “biased and misleading.” The others declined to comment.
Federal prosecutors have widened their investigation into the private banking practices of UBS, the world’s largest private bank. Two senior UBS executives are scheduled to testify July 17 before the Senate panel.
The hearing will also include videotaped testimony for Heinrich Kieber, a German citizen and a former low-level employee of LGT, who is now in the witness protection program, according to the NYTimes.
Michigan Democrat Senator Carl Levin, whose staff ran the investigation, said in a statement on Wednesday, “Tax havens are engaged in economic warfare against the United States, and the honest, hardworking American taxpayer is losing.”