Tax Lawyer's Blog

The Orlando Sentinel reported today that the Swiss CEO of UBS AG was indicted for conspiring to hide $20 billion in assets from the IRS:

Raoul Weil, chief executive officer of a UBS division handling cross-border business and private banking, is charged with one count of conspiring to use overseas accounts to defraud the U.S. through income tax evasion. But the indictment also says other UBS executives at high levels of the company took part in the conspiracy.

Prosecuting attorney, Alexander Acosta of Miami said,

Every American who pays his or her taxes should be offended that a select few use anonymous offshore accounts to avoid paying their fair share.

IRS Commissioner, Doug Shulman said,

The IRS is aggressively pursuing anyone who helps wealthy individuals hide their assets offshore and dodge the tax system.

The Comish

The indictment alleges that,

UBS aggressively marketed its tax evasion business to wealthy people in the U.S., making some 3,800 visits in 2004 alone to discuss accounts with clients. The bank used encrypted laptops, numbered accounts and other “counter surveillance techniques” to guarantee secrecy.

The government may have a difficult time bringing Mr. Weil to justice, however, because he is currently living in Switzerland and it does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S.

A Miami federal judge had, earlier in 2008, authorized the IRS to get information from UBS about U.S. taxpayers whose identities were unknown.

The indictment is particularly interesting because of recent promises from the Obama camp that he intends to crack down on off shore tax havens.

Read also

UBS Executive Weil Charged by U.S. in Tax Conspiracy -Bloomberg.com

Obama Win Raises Pressure on Swiss Banking Secrecy -  Reuters

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