Judge Tells Feds They Can Ask For Secret Swiss Banking Info

A federal judge on Tuesday cleared the way for prosecutors to force the Swiss banking giant UBS to turn over the names of wealthy clients as part of an investigation of its offshore private banking practices.

An order signed by Judge Joan A. Lenard of Federal District Court in Miami gives prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service the authority to request the information. It was unclear whether UBS would turn over the names or appeal the process.

The decision is a setback for UBS, which is struggling to maintain its tradition of Swiss banking secrecy amid the rapidly unfolding investigation. The bank said in an e-mailed statement Tuesday that "UBS looks forward to working with the I.R.S. to address the summons."

The embattled bank, which is struggling against investor concerns about further write-downs and its ability to retain vital private clients, also announced a major overhaul of its corporate governance rules on Tuesday.

It said it would replace four directors and more clearly separate the responsibilities of the board from those of the executive management to end what some critics called a cozy relationship that had led to the bank's becoming one of the first and largest casualties of the subprime mortgage turmoil.

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Comments

[outnow]

Why would the US allow dictators, drug dealers and criminals to hide their money? UN sanctions should be placed on Switzerland until the practice ends. Possible the biggest outrage on the planet continues where criminals can evade taxes and hide the proceeds of their crimes.

[dadw5boys]

I HOPE THEY GET THAT COMPUTER PROGRAM THAT HELPS THE HEDGE FUNDS STAY HIDDEN WITH ALL THOSE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN OIL FURTURES THEY HOLD !!!!!!!!!!

[KillTheMessenger]

See... that is why you keep your money on private banks in Switzerland which do not have US subsidiaries and which don't keep your name on record. The US has absolutely no way to force them to cooperate, and even if they did, there would be no way to track the information back to you.

[Virago55]

That's it! I'm closing my Swiss bank accounts - all of them. I knew this was going to happen!

[Toonadude]

Hey, is that the executive privilege machine I hear getting started up?

[kae]

HAH! You know calls are being made and checks are being cashed to assure this will never happen.

[oldwiseone]

Money is like blood, need by all the organs for nourishment. But if the blood is pooled by just a few organs, then the extremeities suffer, become painful and eventually die off.