Swiss banking giant, UBS AG, today entered into an agreement with the US government in which UBS will disclose the names of 52,000 Americans who hold secret bank accounts at UBS in order to avoid criminal indictment.
While Switzerland maintains banking secrecy as a matter of law, UBS violated both Swiss and US law by engaging in the practice of establishing fraudulent offshore companies through which they transferred US client’s funds to their bank, a practice commonly known as money laundering.
UBS still faces very heavy fines, possibly totaling $1 Billion dollars or more to avoid the criminal prosecution. In addition, UBS handed over a short-list of 250 names of American account holders who have substantial sums on deposit with the bank. The US Department of Justice is investigating the individuals named for possible prosecution.
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