Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON - Jeffrey P. Chernick, of Stanfordville, N.Y., pleaded guilty today to charges of filing a false tax return, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Chernick, who owns a corporation which represents toy manufacturers in China and Hong Kong, appeared today before Judge James I. Cohn in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and accepted responsibility for concealing more than $8 million in Swiss bank accounts.

ZURICH (Reuters) - Alan Gold, the U.S. judge presiding over an tax trial against Switzerland's UBS, will hold a status call at 1245 GMT on July 29 in which the Justice Department and the Swiss bank are due to advise him about progress towards a settlement of the damaging tax dispute.

GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. authorities are targeting client visits by Swiss-based bankers from UBS in their efforts to identify U.S. citizens with accounts at the bank who may have evaded tax, a Swiss newspaper said on Sunday.

Swiss banks may again feel the pressure of large cash withdrawals in a short space of time as Italy and Britain plan another round of tax amnesties.