Financial Transparency Coalition

Like lava lamps, parachute pants, and Twitter, it has become a fad to rave about fetching back illicit funds stashed abroad. Of course, like any first-rate fad, there was a trendsetting pair, which in this case was the U.S. and Swiss bank UBS. The pair linked up earlier this year when the IRS caught wind that Swiss bankers were traveling to the U.S., offering Americans access to superior wealth management, sound investment opportunities, the added perk of easy tax evasion. And the U.S. has been on the chase ever since. In recent months,...

On a hot Saturday morning in May at the Rolle yacht club on Lake Geneva, Guy de Picciotto, chief executive officer of Switzerland’s Union Bancaire Privee, smears on sunblock as he rallies a professional, lycra-clad crew of six to race his 35-foot, $600,000 catamaran.

On June 30th, the US Department of Justice filed its legal brief in the UBS case in the Federal District Court in Miami. The filing came amid speculation that the Justice Department might be looking to settle the case with UBS, as a diplomatic gesture towards the Swiss.

ZURICH (Reuters) - U.S. clients of Swiss bank UBS will not be able to access secret accounts from July 1 unless they transfer the money onshore or close the account, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday.