Sen. Levin Calls For UBS To Clean Up Or Shut Down Over Tax Evasion

**UPDATE**

The Wall Street Journal reports that UBS will close private-banking operations for U.S. clients:

A UBS AG executive told a U.S. Senate panel that the Swiss company will shutter its private-banking services that have served U.S. clients from Switzerland.

"That means UBS will no longer provide offshore banking or securities services to U.S. residents through our bank branches," said Mark Branson, chief financial officer of UBS Global Wealth Management and Business Banking.

Earlier today, ABC News reported that Senator Carl Levin was talking tough again on private banking and tax havens:

Federal regulators should consider revoking the US banking license of the giant Swiss Bank UBS because of its role in helping wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in taxes, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told ABC News today.

"I don't think that any bank that goes to the extent that UBS has gone through to avoid doing what their agreements with the United States require them to do, should be allowed to continue to do business unless they clean up their act," Levin said.

Check out Senator Levin's blog today about the tax avoidance hearings on the Huffington Post

-OR-

Read more about Swiss banks and wealthy tax evasion:

::Super Rich Tax Cheats Outed By Bank Clerk
::Judge Tells Feds They Can Ask For Secret Swiss Banking Info
::Ex-UBS Banker Pleads Guilty, Will Help Feds
::Sen. Levin's 4/1/08 blog on tax cheats abroad

Comments

[GloriaY]

UBS will simply change it's name and transparency etc etc etc, and waa laa. Same practice, different day.

[Manuel]

Some days, when not musing over Napoleon and his campaign to have himself declared Emperor of Mongolia, I turn my attentionas toward the Americas and wonder aloud what the Senator was thinking -- particularly this week, the week former press secretary Tony Snow died at 53, passing as it were on a long weekend, Bastille Day, the day on which many banks doors were shut.

I wonder what the Senator thinks or would think of what once was known as First National Bank (Palm Beach, Fla.) what was the quintessential model for bank discretion in the Americas.

For those who are unfamiliar with the bank, which was, basically, a transplanted miniature Switzerland, with nothing more than two branches, and a customer list which read like a blue book of the world, and a slate of directors of the stature of : [editted for brevity].

For those who are unfamiliar with the Bank, they might well avail themselves to understand that First National Bank of Palm Beach had a particular device to insure that U.S. tax authorities did not have to be notified about individual holdings -- where they came from or how they got there.

It was a simple device: the bank paid no interest on deposits.

With that, the authorities did not have to be notified about individual holdings.

Manuel

[Gatormouth]

Just some quick questions.
Anyone? I know the president has the right to issue pardons, does that apply to state law violations as well as federal? Criminal evasion of state tax laws, for example? I would like the big perps to spend some quality time at - if not Club Fed - a state resort, perhaps. Also, anyone who facilitated these attacks on US (and state) revenues could be vulnerable to civil lawsuit as well perhaps? Also, for such a big story this has a problem making much of a splash in the MSM , doesn't it?

[All57States]

Senator,

As a lifelong resident of Michigan, I can say it's great to see you are still up and at 'em. I thought I might just let you know what's happening back in the Great Lake State. How can I say this....the state is so far down the toilet, it will take generations to get it back. However, congrats on your success in nailing the rich. You are totally MIA on what's happening in the state, but I know you have been hot after the rich for years, so congratulations. Unfortunately, Michigan needs all the rich people it can get. The moment anyone here gets two nickles to rub together they leave the state.

The Governor is so far in over her head, she does not know which way is up. The city of Detroit is a 3rd world country (lowest high school graduation rate in the country, +70% of residents on some form of government assistance, Mayor currently under criminal inditment, FEDS taping phones etc of mayor, mayor's father, city council with grand jury currently in session). We don't hear jack from you on the mess the state is in.

As I continue this rant (thank you for your indulgence)... .that whole eyeglass thing. I know it gives you an intelligent, sophisticated, almost Ben Franklenesque appearance....and I know it's your look, I know, I get that. But really, it no longer works. It's so 1780's.

[DrFitz]

No offense, but how do you expect any politicians to be able to create any programs for luring industry, funding job training, etc. if there's no crackdown on sheltering huge amounts of money? Are the same un/under-employed supposed to be the only suckers paying taxes? You should be proud of your senator for actually being one of the few standing up to these people and their enabling bankers.

[Gatormouth]

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hAWyRDIy1SaZQr35zkl5JrSF0tuQ

Americans stash away 1.5 trillion dollars in tax havens

WASHINGTON (AFP) " UBS bank vowed Thursday to stop offering offshore banking services in the US after legislators accused it and other banks of helping wealthy Americans hide about 1.5 trillion dollars in overseas tax havens.
********
"The evidence we have been able to obtain breaks through some of the wall of secrecy to show that these two banks have employed banking practices that facilitate, and have resulted in, tax evasion by US clients," said Senator Carl Levin, who led the six-month investigation.

Levin showed a chart summarizing tax haven bank secrecy "tricks" uncovered during the probe -- banks using code names for clients, telling staff to use pay phones instead of business phones so authorities cannot trace calls, and giving staff encrypted computers when they travel so authorities cannot read any client information.
********************************
Other methods included funneling money through so-called transfer companies to cover the tracks of the funds and make audit difficult, and opening accounts in the names of foreign shell companies to hide the real owners.

*******************************
Gosh, this looks bad. Maybe we should talk to the vice chairman of UBS Securities, the Swiss bank"s investment banking arm. That would be Phil Gramm.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/business/worldbusiness/06tax.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=gramm+and+wealthy+americans&st=nyt&oref=slogin

[StephenBarry]

CROOKS !! WHEN ARE THESE BANKERS GOING TO BE LOCKED UP EN MASSE ????
IT IS THE ONLY WAY TO STOP THIS CRAP !!!

[Vinca]

I am wondering, since this war anc corruption is bankrupting America, WILL AMERICA HAVE TO BE SOLD< LOCK STOCK AND BARREL TO OTHER COUNTRIES?

[rockyroad]

Heck, the more I think about it the angrier I become.

If you lost money on dot coms in 2000, or when your company's stock went from $68 a share to $9.96 overnight, invested in Enron or corporate disasters in the last 20 years, you should be furious. Execs in these companies live large today. They head up VCs, live in mansions and live under the radar.

Some live so low you wouldn't know they exist, they do. One brags he has millions but has no bank account or assets. He's on the board of BGoA and only associates with 1%ers, who know that he's a rotten apple . . .

No American is untouchable. Investors' billions must be returned and crooks must go to jail, as should their facilitators. Lawyers must not collect a dime. Gov't prosecutors should collect proceeds ,taxes, shareholder rolls and distribute the proceeds plus interest and penalties according to companies' financial records, refusing predatory class action lawyers. Also sue the companies' insurers. Only true victims should benefit. The trickle-down effect of putting all cash back into the economy will more than pay for itself. Fine the crooks and sieze their assets.

It's the perfect Elliott Ness scenario. . . . a crime that RICO was designed to prosecute. Treble damages plus interest.


Yes, some giants will tumble, but the middle class will rise again. So will faith in America, as well the integrety of the financial and justice systems. Perhaps some homes will come out

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Honorary Huffpick.
Comprehensive smack-down!

[Gatormouth]

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hAWyRDIy1SaZQr35zkl5JrSF0tuQ

"Americans stash away 1.5 trillion dollars in tax havens

The offshore tax evasion problem is of "staggering proportions," said Senator Norm Coleman.

"These tax havens hold an estimated 1.5 trillion dollars in American assets, resulting in lost taxes of roughly 100 billion dollars," he said.

The OECD group of mostly industrialized economies estimates that between five to seven trillion dollars are held in tax havens or banking secrecy jurisdictions globally.

In response to the Senate probe, UBS, the world's largest manager of private wealth, said 19,000 of the 20,000 US client accounts in Switzerland were "undeclared" in the range of nearly 18 billion dollars.

US authorities have initiated enforcement action against 100 US taxpayers in connection with accounts in the secretive European principality of Liechtenstein after a former LGT employee provided tax authorities around the world with data on about 1,400 people with bank accounts.

The ex-employee, who has gone into hiding, gave the US probe panel 12,000 pages of documents related to US clients.

Former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfield had already pleaded guilty to conspiring to help US clients evade millions of dollars in taxes by hiding assets in Switzerland and Liechtenstein."

Now get pissed.

[rockyroad]

Curious,

While I haven't checked out just when Germany released the names of its citizens on the list, gotta wonder why, since the US has had the list since February of this year, the story wasn't discussed in America until this week. Why wasn't it reported here? Surely, it was reported in the international press.

Perhaps it was Phil Gramm's hubris. He's vice chair of UBS and last week admonished Americans that our collective depression over the economic woes were due to our psychosis rather than due to layoffs, home foreclosures, the tightened credit markets that make even commercial borrowers with the best credit ratings unable to borrow, the second largest bank failure in US history, astronomic energy prices, the federal bailout of Bear Stearns, Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, unmitigated short-selling of energy and financial stocks, the nose-dive of the dollar, huge losses in Afghanistan, exposure of unbid energy contracts in Iraq by the oil monopolies, and generally bad news ad nauseum . . .

Perhaps one of Gramm's peers said, "Enough."

My God . . . Thank God . . . finally. . .

What does it take for an American government and press to say, "Enough"? Apparently, a WHOLE lot. What will it take for them to follow through? A WHOLE LOT MORE.

We can survive it . . . BUT FIRST & FOREMOST . . .We MUST see the list., uncensored . . .

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Bingo.

[WIpatriot]

Somebody's asking too many questions...I'm just sayin'....

[rockyroad]

LIST PLEASE! Every American is entitled to see the list . . . it isn't covered by Executive Privilege . . . it isn't privileged in any way, Germany, France and other governments have shared the names of their nationals on the list with their citizens . . . why are Americans being deprived of our right to know who's been cheating America, as revealed on the list..

Presumably, we live in the greatest democracy ever. (Lately, evidence hardly bears this out) Our leaders tout that Americans enjoy greater transparency in government and equality under the law than the citizens of any other country . . . even greater than German and Italian citizens enjoy . . . Well . . . SHOW US THE MONEY . . . time to bite the bullet and confirm that equal justice is not a sham in America. Demand that 1%ers, with their tax breaks and secret stockpiles in tax havens who lie, cheat and steal from the rest of us are equally subject to criminal prosecution.

Show us the list. Americans can handle the truth . . . politicos can't . . even those who appear honest refuse to aggressively demand truth. They refuse to impeach, enforce subpoenas, or even prosecute the rape and murder of Americans by American because no-bid contractors have relocated offshore.

Demand the list, uncensored and in its entirety.

Americans are scratching their heads wondering what the hell happened to our economy, banking system, homes, jobs, environment, Justice

[ROBOT8]

I BET BUSH, CHENEY, ROVE, AND THE ENTIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAVE MONEY THERE

[Vinca]

THE PROBLEM RIGHT NOW< NO REGULATIONS< NO OVERSIGHT ON CORPORATIONS< GOV OR ANYTHING

[Gatormouth]

Pucker time, people. Article from Citizen, South Africa
************************************************************
UBS drops offshore banking services for Americans

WASHINGTON (AFP) Published: 7/18/2008 02:37:03

http://www.citizen.co.za/index/article.aspx?pDesc=1,1,22&type=top&File=080718002840.6a75vot7.xml

"The official, Mark Branson, UBS' chief financial officer of global wealth management, also said the bank is cooperating with the US government to identify US clients who might have committed tax fraud.

Branson told the Senate Permanent Subcommittee of Investigation that the bank "genuinely regrets" failures in complying with US regulations and will stop offering offshore banking to Americans.

"We have decided to exit entirely the business in question," Branson told the panel of senators.

"That means UBS will no longer provide offshore banking and securities services to US residents through its bank branches. Such services will only be provided to residents of this country through companies licensed in the United States," he said.

In addition, he added, "we are working with the US government to identify the names of US clients who may have engaged in tax fraud."

Branson said client identity is usually protected under Swiss law, but not when a foreign government formally request the information for a tax fraud investigation.

"We will fully support and assist that process," he said.

[FogBelter]

"Branson said client identity is usually protected under Swiss law, but not when a foreign government formally request the information for a tax fraud investigation."

Aha!! Does that mean if the Philippine Government were to accuse Ferdinand Marcos and his heirs of Tax Fraud that the Swiss Government would disclose the hidden accounts of Marcos there?

That's quite a revelation!!!

[BobsNotWorking]

That's it? Where are the names? I want to see the names!

[SCG]

In Sen. Levin's blog post here today, is a link to video of the hearing.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sen-carl-levin/tax-havens-hearing_b_113266.html

[Gatormouth]

Here is a bare start; four names - five if you countGramm, though.
********************
from The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121617527536657001.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Four Face Senate Inquiry Over Tax Haven
By EVAN PEREZ
July 16, 2008; Page C3

"WASHINGTON -- The tax strategies of four wealthy people are expected to be a focus of a Senate subcommittee hearing Thursday, as legislators join the burgeoning probe of alleged tax-evasion services marketed by UBS AG and other banks."

The Senate subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), has asked four Americans to testify at Thursday's hearing: Peter Lowy, of Beverly Hills, Calif., whose family controls Australian shopping-mall developer Westfield Group; Steven Greenfield, of New York; Shannon Marsh, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; and William Wu, of Forest Hills, N.Y.

Also on the list is Martin Liechti, a senior UBS private-banking official, who has been detained by U.S. authorities on a material-witness warrant. That requires him to remain in the U.S. to possibly aid in the government's criminal investigation."

[Manuel]

There is a Hungarian ditty which runs: "Fekete, feher, igen, nem ... mit vetel a penzemen." which is quite telling when it comes to Switzerland and banking in the Lombard and French sectors of the Confederation.

It begins actually with the question of Versailles. A palace like not other, head and shoudlers above all the rest, and with a smallish story of the House of Anjou and the Hungarian House of Arpad -- what is in
many ways a vampirish tale of whatever happened to the most famous gold deposit in the Borzsony? And the other story, of whatever happened to the gold tribute which was payed as tribute to keep the Chinese at bay from the Europeans.

Those two stories are the story of modern Central Bank reserves. The reserves against which paper
notes are issued by societies which are on a gold standard of hard money.

It is still a story worth telling and continuing to tell as it is indeed the story of the basis of King Louis (truthfully, all the Louis wealth). You could say that Versailles was built with the gold of Hungary and not be far off the mark.

Manuel

[Manuel]

An apology here for replying to my own post.

The story of the House of Anjou is the story of Colbert, not Stephen Colbert who was in contention to have a Hungarian bridge named after him, but instead French Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste de Colbert. Not to confuse the two.

That is the story of Chateau Colbert which is in France's chateaux country, 360 km from Paris.

The history begins in 1012 A.D. when the land was purchased by the Count of Anjou. In 1668 it changed hands when Edouard-Francois Colbert, who was a popular visitor to the court of Louis XIV, purchased the property. It has only changed hands a few times since then.

Each of its owners was an important name in French history, and each added his own touch to this magnificent chateau, which was meticulously rebuilt to its current form in the 1800s. The glamorous, modern bathrooms and facilities are the only capitulation to the 20th century.

It is probably one of the most important stories in what is a very old game for Burgundy and for Switzerland, and for the gnomes of Zurich, who are neither gnomes nor in Zurich.

Of course for those who don't follow these things -- or don't even plan their taxes -- there is that other Colbert, with his show, the "Colbert Report".

Manuel

[Big0725]

And another one begins to wobble.

http://www.sos.mo.gov/news.asp?id=718

[nogimmicks]

Sadly, a large fraction of the US tax revenues goes into feeding the war and war profiteers or flows straight to the super-rich. Very little goes into roads, infrastructure, education, medical research etc. Instead of all those speeches, they should have pursued Halliburton at Dubai instead. Senator Levin is very good in sounding reasonable, but looking away from the biggest, most blatant and outrageous violations if they affect certain interests.