You break the law. You hide your money. You abandon any pretense to having any loyalty to your community. And, now, you sue to keep all the quiet. That's what a group of rich Americans are doing.
I caught this in The New York Times and have yet to see it elsewhere but this is simply unbelievable:
UBS was sued on Tuesday in a Swiss federal court by wealthy American clients seeking to prevent the disclosure of their identities as part of a tax-evasion investigation by the United States Justice Department.
The lawsuit accuses UBS and Switzerland’s financial regulator, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or Finma, of violating Swiss bank secrecy laws and of conducting what Swiss law considers illegal activities with foreign authorities. It also named Peter Kurer, the chairman of UBS, and Eugen Haltiner, the chairman of Finma, as defendants.
The suit, filed by a lawyer in Zurich, Andreas Rued, on behalf of nearly a dozen American clients, underscores the growing clash between Swiss banking secrecy laws and those of the United States. Tax evasion is not considered a crime in Switzerland. Disclosing client names under Swiss law is a criminal offense and can expose bank executives and officers to fines, prison terms and other penalties.[emphasis added]
It will be interesting to see how the Justice Department reacts (nothing on the website yet). But, I do believe that, if the Administration is ultimately successful in prying loose the names, a special website should be set up and everyone of those names should be made public.
Notice that I was quite restrained: I am not recommending public tarring and feathering. Jail time will do.