Federal prosecutors are building criminal cases against 150 wealthy American clients of the Swiss bank UBS as part of a continuing investigation into tax evasion, a person briefed on the matter told the New York Times. Many of the inquiries will result in criminal complaints, said the source. While it is not clear where the government got the 150 names, federal investigators received 285 names from UBS in February as part of a settlement, as well as from elsewhere. In February, UBS agreed to pay $780 million to settle charges that it had helped American clients evade taxes on nearly $20 billion hidden in offshore accounts. A day later, the Justice Department filed a civil suit seeking to require UBS to disclose the names of 52,000 clients. Of the names on the agency’s original list, prosecutors are focusing on several thousand Americans with offshore accounts containing tens to hundreds of millions of dollars, the person said. On Wednesday, the Justice Department and UBS reached an agreement on the disclosure of additional names. Under it, UBS will release the names of clients who fit criteria set by the Justice Department. It was said the criteria included clients who set up offshore entities to evade taxes and those who had contact with Swiss-based UBS bankers, in person, by telephone or by e-mail. Accounts over a certain dollar amount will be included. The Internal Revenue Service plans to release the criteria next week, but the dollar threshold will not be publicly disclosed, these two people said.
U.S. UBS Clients Could Face Criminal Charges
Prosecutors are focusing on several thousand Americans with offshore accounts containing tens to hundreds of millions of dollars.
August 14, 2009