Clinton and Swiss counterpart to discuss bank secrecy, tax evasion issues
July 31st, 2009
The U.S. is trying to enforce tax collections and Switzerland is trying to protect its tradition of banking secrecy. The talks come as a UBS bank customer pleads guilty in a tax case.
Los Angeles Times
As a federal probe of secret Swiss bank accounts made headlines in the summer of 2008, New York businessman Jeffrey P. Chernick got nervous. A middleman in international toy sales, Chernick had hidden millions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service at Switzerland’s largest bank, according to a recent court filing.
Concerned that the bank, UBS, would spill his secrets to the U.S. government, Chernick decided to disclose his account to the IRS and pay the unpaid taxes, according to the court document. Then a Swiss lawyer and a Swiss bank executive talked him out of it, according to the document.
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