Some U.S. banks awash in ID theft tax-fraud proceeds as IRS cracks down
By Brett Wolf
NEW YORK, Feb. 3 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - Despite a new federal crackdown announced this week aimed at combating tax refund fraud involving the use of stolen identities, current law enforcement efforts are not enough and fraudsters are still pumping massive sums of tax fraud proceeds through U.S. banks, sources told Thomson Reuters.
“IRS and Justice should have been doing this three years ago. This widespread criminal activity is more profitable than drug dealing,” said regulatory consultant and investigator Jim Dowling, a former Internal Revenue Service criminal investigator special agent who also acted as an anti-money laundering (AML) advisor to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. (more…)
UBS won’t sue its former executives on subprime, U.S. tax
By Emma Thomasson
ZURICH, Dec 15 (Reuters) – UBS AG will not sue its former bosses after risky bets on subprime mortgages and a strategy of helping U.S. clients dodge taxes by hiding money in secret accounts brought the Swiss bank to its knees.
Zurich state prosecutors also said they would not open criminal proceedings against UBS employees as there was no evidence of a breach of Swiss law.
UBS said bringing charges would only draw negative attention as the wealth management group seeks a fresh start to win back trust after massive withdrawals by rich clients.
“The board has decided that years of uncertainty about these matters due to litigation … and related negative attention from such action is not in the interest of UBS, its employees, clients and shareholders,” the group said in a statement.
UBS said the board had decided not to take action after a thorough review, including consultation with external legal experts. It said its new management led by banking veteran Oswald Gruebel had taken “comprehensive and profound measures to ensure that nothing like this should ever happen again.”
UBS shares were up 1.33 percent at 16.04 Swiss francs at 1401 GMT, against a 1.3 percent weaker DJ Stoxx European banks index.
Swiss authorities investigate bribery accusation in UBS tax case
By Oliver Hirt and Sven Egenter ZURICH, July 29 (Reuters) – Swiss prosecutors said on Wednesday they are investigating allegations that an unnamed high-ranking Swiss official took a bribe from a U.S. client of UBS to help cover up tax fraud.
-
Author Profile
-
