Word: swiss
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...That's when the Swiss Government drew a bright red line: It announced that it would seize UBS documents so that the bank would not be able to hand them over...
...After intense high-level negotiations the two governments agreed that UBS would provide the names of 4,450 Americans with the largest undisclosed Swiss bank accounts. But no sooner was the ink dry on that deal than the Swiss courts ruled that no such disclosures could be made under Swiss...
...Justice Department, frustrated for decades by Swiss efforts to foil any tampering with its bank secrecy traditions, was pressing its advantage: a giant tax evasion program run by Swiss bank behemoth UBS was exposed in great detail by a company whistleblower, and Uncle Sam was demanding to know the names of all 52,000 U.S. account holders involved...
...There is no clear solution to the impasse, and the first U.S. Government response, from the Internal Revenue Service, suggests that Washington is not even interested in discussing the issue. "The United States has an agreement with the Swiss government to produce information on U.S. account holders at UBS," said a terse IRS statement. "We expect the Swiss government to continue to honor the terms of the agreement...
...Former U.S. prosecutors say there could be many reasons for prosecutors to have passed on Birkenfeld's offer. Wearing a wire in Switzerland, for instance, would legally have required the U.S. to get permission of the Swiss authorities - an unlikely prospect - although one experienced former U.S. attorney who asked to remain anonymous noted that he and others he knew had done that in other countries without seeking permission...