This would have never happened under Republican rule!!!
BERN, Switzerland - Switzerlands president said Thursday that his country will hold onto its treasured tradition of confidential bank accounts, even as it took the unprecedented step of revealing over 250 tax cheats to U.S. authorities.
Swiss bank secrecy is under threat after UBS, the worlds biggest bank to the rich, agreed late on Wednesday to pay $780 million and turn over once-secret Swiss banking records to settle allegations it conspired to defraud the U.S. government of taxes owed by thousands of American clients.
As part of the deal struck in a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., UBS has made the unprecedented step of agreeing to turn over to the U.S. government immediately account information for U.S. customers of the bank's cross-border business. In doing so, federal authorities have struck a big crack in Switzerlands trademark bank account secrecy.
The Swiss are saying that this is the end of Swiss banking as they knew it, Jack Blum, an offshore tax specialist, told The New York Times. Nobody will trust the security of the Swiss bank account.
Switzerland's largest bank and U.S. officials have been negotiating intensely since allegations surfaced last year that UBS helped as many as 17,000 Americans conceal up to $20 billion.
BERN, Switzerland - Switzerlands president said Thursday that his country will hold onto its treasured tradition of confidential bank accounts, even as it took the unprecedented step of revealing over 250 tax cheats to U.S. authorities.
Swiss bank secrecy is under threat after UBS, the worlds biggest bank to the rich, agreed late on Wednesday to pay $780 million and turn over once-secret Swiss banking records to settle allegations it conspired to defraud the U.S. government of taxes owed by thousands of American clients.
As part of the deal struck in a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., UBS has made the unprecedented step of agreeing to turn over to the U.S. government immediately account information for U.S. customers of the bank's cross-border business. In doing so, federal authorities have struck a big crack in Switzerlands trademark bank account secrecy.
The Swiss are saying that this is the end of Swiss banking as they knew it, Jack Blum, an offshore tax specialist, told The New York Times. Nobody will trust the security of the Swiss bank account.
Switzerland's largest bank and U.S. officials have been negotiating intensely since allegations surfaced last year that UBS helped as many as 17,000 Americans conceal up to $20 billion.
