Under Agreement, UBS to Give Up Over 4,000 Names

Under Agreement, UBS to Give Up Over 4,000 Names - 8/20/2009

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HEADLINES \| SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS \| COURT FILINGS LINKS TO OTHER NEWS \| NEWS ARCHIVE	HEADLINES ARCHIVED SETTLEMENTS AND DISMISSALS ARCHIVED

HEADLINE NEWS:

Under Agreement, UBS to Give Up Over 4,000 Names
Lynnley Browning

International Herald Tribune. August 20, 2009
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EXCERPT: The Swiss banking giant UBS on Wednesday reached a final deal with the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service in which it will ultimately disclose names and account details for more than 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of tax evasion. Details of the settlement were unveiled Wednesday by the I.R.S. commissioner, Douglas Shulman. The agreement, he said, also allows the Swiss government to work with other Swiss financial institutions to disclose the identities of other Americans who have hidden money offshore. UBS will notify the clients whose names are to be disclosed in coming weeks, Mr. Shulman said. Clients still have time to reveal themselves before a voluntary disclosure program ends Sept. 23 to potentially avoid prosecution and steeper penalties and fines, he said. Scores of Americans have come forward in recent months to disclose their secret accounts to the I.R.S. That group of people, along with the “thousands” of names Mr. Shulman said that UBS would disclose, brings the total of UBS-related names to be disclosed to the I.R.S. to more than 5,000. The accounts at one point held over $18 billion, he said. “These are the accounts we most wanted,” Mr. Shulman said. But he said the United States government retained the right to resume its legal efforts to force banks to turn over names. The settlement marks a turning point in a closely watched battle between UBS, the world’s largest private bank, and federal prosecutors and tax investigators who suspect it of selling tax evasion services to tens of thousands of wealthy Americans. The landmark settlement peels back layers of Swiss banking secrecy, and is expected to provide a road map for the authorities as they try to crack down on tax evasion by Americans who, through private banks and other Swiss-based financial intermediaries, use offshore accounts that go undeclared to the I.R.S.

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