A Swiss Bank Is Set to Open Its Secret Files

A Swiss Bank Is Set to Open Its Secret Files

www.nytimes.com

In the hush-hush world of Swiss banking, the unthinkable is happening: secrets are spilling into the open.

UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, agreed on Wednesday to divulge the names of well-heeled Americans whom the authorities suspect of using offshore accounts at the bank to evade taxes. The bank admitted conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and agreed to pay $780 million to settle a sweeping federal investigation into its activities.

(visit the link for the full news article)

So now we know where all the American money goes. I do have personal experience of the Swiss banking system and I can tell you that this news is something that was unimaginable in the past. Most of the Swiss private banking business was shrouded in secrecy.

One can guess that many famous names may roll out of this one. Would be interesting to see if the Clinton or Bush family is one of them

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This is way bigger than any steroid scandal in professional sports, hopefully it gets as much/more scrutiny from congress/the media. I'm definitely interested in seeing the names on the list.

one thing is for sure.................MY name won't be on that list.

So if an American has money in any Swiss bank account it is illegal?

What about not-so-elite wealthy people who have money in Swiss accounts? People who are only worth 10-50 million or so? Is the U.S. government going to view them as criminals because the reason they had money in Swiss accounts was to evade taxes?

reply to post by sunny_2008ny


Good find Sunny...star and flag.

Mind keeping us updated on future articles related to this?

Thanks!

reply to post by Diplomat

So if an American has money in any Swiss bank account it is illegal?

It is not illegal to keep "good" American money in Swiss banks. The issue here is of US tax evaded money being channeled into the Swiss banking system

If it works as it's meant to work...plenty of time for backroom deal cutting yet. The wealthy and the powerful have wealthy and powerful friends and politicians aren't in politics forever. They all like to have something to fall back on.

If it does work and it's done with transparency, I'll be very happy. It's been a low-key scandal in the UK that these same people are evading taxes. Not just *some* tax but often all of their tax. Two years ago a billionaire was found to pay less tax per year than those on minimum wage. After the media uproar, Tony Blair's Government let the system continue.

These international billionaires threaten to take their business elsewhere and risk jobs and damage to the respective economies. They aren't being asked to pay a punitive tax, just the same taxes we all have to pay.

I sincerely hope the US Govt has the backbone to publicly ensure these tax-dodging a**ho*es are fined and forced to pay back-dated taxes. Maybe then, in some twisted fantasy of mine, the UK Govt (Labour or Tory) will follow suit and make them pay in this country too. Government shouldn't be on all fours with it's backside in the air getting *exploited* by people that will walk away as soon as a profit margin increases elsewhere.

Forgive the rant, but honestly, between politicians and amoral billionaires I don't know who I detest more.

I personally think it's BS. The tax system here is unlawful and I applaud those who stow money away in Swiss banks to evade taxes.

reply to post by obsolete

I personally think it's BS. The tax system here is unlawful and I applaud those who stow money away in Swiss banks to evade taxes.

Hope they really reveal some names and that this is not a publicity stunt on part of the Bank or IRS. It would be interested how someone who is politically well connected will deal with this. Say Donald Trump or Warren Buffet I am sure they have Swiss bank accounts. Dont see their names coming out though!

[edit on 19-2-2009 by sunny_2008ny]

No famous names will come out.
Only stupid people who aren't shielded by a company or trust.
Clinton's names are on nothing.
But they control it all.

Originally posted by obsolete
I personally think it's BS. The tax system here is unlawful and I applaud those who stow money away in Swiss banks to evade taxes.

I agree with this. Stick it to the IRS/Tax system however you can.

I find it amazing that the IRS actually believes it owns a percentage of everything you make - even when you make it outside America.

Now they've begun the first step in the process to gather information it will only be a matter of time when people say no more and the bloody revolution will begin. American Patriots vs. the World Criminal Bankers and those they've hired to collect their blood money.

Originally posted by verylowfrequency
I find it amazing that the IRS actually believes it owns a percentage of everything you make - even when you make it outside America.

Now they've begun the first step in the process to gather information it will only be a matter of time when people say no more and the bloody revolution will begin. American Patriots vs. the World Criminal Bankers and those they've hired to collect their blood money.

You know, I hadn't really thought about it that way until I read your post. What if this money was actually made outside the U.S.? Say Johnny Rich Guy who owns the Really-Really big Corp in the U.S. took 10 million dollars from his big bank account and deposits there. The money makes money because it will draw interest. Go on to say that he uses this account to invest in stocks in Europe or Japan. What would that matter to the U.S? Although maybe Japan might like that info as well.

To be honest I don't think you will get a whole lot of real info on a bunch of rich Americans. They have way too many people that are educated in how to beat the U.S. tax code. Maybe we'll get to hear about a few dead Nazis nad a pile of companies that are owned by another company that is owned by..and..and..

I just don't see any of the real power brokers on the world wide scale that might also cal the United States home getting pushed out of the Swiss closet. The bank that does this would only make the smaller banks that don't want to disclose this info look that much better then they will be the biggest bank. That or people will be looking at sixty year old paper trails trying to figure out who is the live person that actually owns the account.

The timing is interesting though with the Presidents promise to get the rich to pay their way more It will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Great thread! Thanks a lot for sharing the info star & flag

[edit on 2/19/2009 by DrumJunkie]

I'm just wondering why the swiss bankers would really do this? I mean it's only going to hurt who stores money with them in the future. So why are they doing it?

reply to post by ImaginaryReality1984


I can only assume that they have made new alliances with those whom were once their adversaries - the market has changed and the swiss are determined to survive. Though I think some Swiss banks have been giving up info for sometime now UBS is just the latest - that's why there's so many banks on third world islands these days.

More news out on this. The Swiss banking is facing an uphill battle for keeping its Secrecy of its banking system intact in wake of the UBS scandal

Old habits die hard !

Swiss Bank Secrecy in balance

On the news yesterday,there was some allegations that an american billionaire was being prosecuted for fraud.
If a lot of these owed taxes are recovered then maybe this will release much of the pressure from the usa, the problem is ,it takes a lot of time for the system to resolve these issues quickly, time which you don,t have.

The IRS=a crime family anyway. whole thing is a scam. You all should be applauding anyone who found a way to beat it, even if just for awhile.

I bet this is to try to scare large scale drug dealers, white collar laundering firms, back alley stock market tipsters, etc.