According to the US Department of Justice, the bank and its subsidiary were fined USD 874 million for helping clients conceal their US assets in secret bank accounts. Several bank officials were engaged in this fraudulent activity from 2002 to 2014 by providing false identities and pseudonyms for their clients according to an article in Law 360.
As part of its plea agreement, the bank agreed to comply with the Department of Justice's Swiss Bank Program that provides Switzerland-based banks an opportunity to avoid criminal prosecution by providing information to the IRS. As a stipulation in this agreement, the bank will turn over any information regarding accounts that were closed between 2009 to 2019.
If the bank continues to work with the DOJ for the next three years on further investigations into hidden accounts, it will avoid further prosecution. Once it has met all stipulations of the agreement, the bank's fraud charges will be dismissed, however, bank clients involved in using the bank to defraud the IRS are not protected by the agreement and can face civil or criminal charges.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now