Swiss Bank Sued for Helping Americans Evade Taxes

The United States government has sued Switzerland’s largest bank in an attempt to force disclosure of as many as 53,000 Americans who allegedly hid their Swiss bank accounts from U.S. tax authorities. Nearly $14.8 billion in assets were held in these accounts for which U.S. customers failed to report and pay U.S. taxes on income earned.

“At a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes and their health care, it is appalling that more than 50,000 of the wealthiest among us have actively sought to evade their civic and legal duty to pay taxes,” John A. DiCicco, acting assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s tax division, said in a statement.

This lawsuit came on Februrary 18th, a day after the bank, UBS AG, agreed to pay $780 million and release the names of 250 account holders to avoid further U.S. prosecution for the thousands of other Americans for whom it helped evade taxes.

The Justice Department has accused UBS of conspiring to defraud the U.S. by assisting 17,000 Americans to hide their bank accounts from the Internal Revenue Service. The charges will be dropped in 18 months if the bank cooperates with prosecutors, makes payments and reforms it policies.

If you are witnessing fraud on the government, contact us by calling 800-377-1812 for strictly confidential advice from experienced counsel, with no fee obligation.