The DOJ has opened criminal invesitgations on 100 wealthy Americans with accounts in Swiss Bank,UBS, per the NY Times.
It seems that they have a few whistleblowers who were at one time bankers....there's more, follow me
This is good news. As a former CID employee with IRS, I know that the information they will be trying to secure from these informants will include information about our current financial crisis as well. This is how CID operates. Cases start out as just income tax fraud, but end up including many other fraudulent charges. My hope is that they will be able to ascertain what happened to our financial system and the names of some of the players.
The article also indicates that some of the informants have duel citizenship and are considered a flight risk. UBS has already informed them that their names had been turned over to the IRS. They need not worry about the 285 or so being a flight risk, I can guarantee you that they are under surviellance even as I write this. The other 52000 though could cause a problem if they feel that their information will be turned over to the U. S. government.
I read earlier yesterday that one of the things that Brown and Obama discussed was the off shore havens of tax evaders. So hopefully there can be some agreement with all countries involved. If you think about it, all of the governments are losing money.
I was not aware that IRS has offered a type of "amnesty" to those with accounts offshore if they 'fessed' up before a certain date. The article indicates that IRS is pushing for people to come forth by June 30 to avoid the usual penalties involved. Hopefully this would give some people the push they need to come forward.
UBS shared over 285 account holder names with the IRS; however UBS is fighting the DOJ and IRS who have requested an addtional 52000 names..wow...so many greedy crooks....I bet this is only the "tip of the iceberg". Worldwide there are probably at least one million greedy buggers with hidden funds. At least.
The US Tax Code allows the IRS to easily go after the little man (wage earners mostly) because all they need do is levy their wages and bank accounts. IRS does not hesitate to swallow the little man while coddling the real criminals. I know, I was an employee for over 25 years.
I personally hope that the government is successful in bringing these folks to justice.
Please take the time to read the article. You won't regret it!
U.S. Said to Start UBS Tax Fraud Cases