UBS Announces $1.7B More Losses, 8,700 Job Cuts

(NEWSER) - UBS will hand over the names of 4,450 of its American account holders as part of a tax evasion settlement, the Wall Street Journal reports, and another 5,000 names will be produced under a special IRS amnesty program. UBS won’t pay a monetary fine. Those being turned over may have a chance to fight the disclosure in Swiss court. The compromise gets around potential Swiss objections to the disclosures. More»

(NEWSER) - Aiming to avoid an ugly international dispute, the US government, Switzerland, and a Swiss bank are seeking to delay a hearing over private bank accounts, the Wall Street Journal reports. The respite would give government officials and UBS until August to strike a deal over data on some 52,000 alleged US tax evaders. The Justice Department and IRS want it; UBS and Switzerland say handing it over would violate Swiss law. More»

Wegelin brought down by probe

(NEWSER) - A Swiss bank older than the US has been indicted by the Justice Department for helping Americans dodge taxes. Wegelin, a 270-year-old private bank, helped some 100 wealthy Americans hide more than $1.2 billion from the IRS, according to the indictment. Clients who decided to co-operate with the investigation gave the Justice Department details about the bank's inner workings, which led to the indictment, Reuters reports. More»

Whistleblower Rudolf Elmer accused of breaking secrecy laws

(NEWSER) - From one legal mess to another: The Swiss last night arrested an ex-banker who appears to have broken the country's strict banking secrecy laws in spectacular fashion. Rudolf Elmer—who handed Julian Assange details on 2,000 holders of offshore accounts this week—is being detained while authorities investigate the possible security breach, CNN reports. Elmer was taken into custody just hours after he was convicted and fined by a Swiss court on an unrelated charge of breaking banking secrecy laws by sharing client data and threatening employees when he worked at Julius Baer. More»

'Active neutrality' policy questioned after Polanski, UBS decisions

(NEWSER) - Some Swiss politicians are griping that the country's prized neutrality appears to be sliding as the government adopts a more accommodating stance toward US authorities. The government agreed in August to turn over the names of thousands of suspected American tax dodgers banking with UBS, and Roman Polanski was busted in Geneva last month on a 31-year-old extradition warrant, leading an opposition politician to accuse the government of "taking orders from foreign bosses." More»