Phil Gramm's UBS Bank BUSTED in $18B Major International Tax Scandal --- Where's our MSM???

$18B in Hiding

By Alexis Glick
Hold onto your hats this is going to be UGLY. Did you hear about the federal investigation into the private banking practices at UBS? Apparently, the Senate subcommittee on investigations released a report yesterday saying that UBS’s offshore accounting practices helped American citizens hide $18 billion from the IRS. As many as 19,000 accounts according to the IRS. Roni Deutch, a tax attorney and frequent guest on Money for Breakfast told me this morning that it could be A LOT more.

It sounds like a spy novel but it’s true according to the IRS and others investigating the practice of illegally hiding funds in offshore accounts. This involves all kinds of misdeeds and heads will role not only at UBS but at other institutions who did the same thing. As Roni rightly points out, the individual taxpayers, American citizens, who hid their money with this bank will also be in hot water and will likely face jail time or fines. It’s an unbelievable story...

http://glickreport.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2008/07/18/18b... /

More details on Leichtenstein tax haven scandal
Posted: July 20, 2008, 8:59 AM by DrewHasselback
Banks
There's been a few interesting developments in the on-going Liechtenstein bank scandal.

A man identified only as "Elmar S" has become the first German citizen to be convicted of using secret bank accounts in Liechtenstein to evade taxes. Elmar S was given a two-year suspended sentence and order to give 7.5-million euros to charities and the state. The man admitted to evading 8-million euros in taxes, and was given a relatively light sentence because he cooperated with authorities.

Another big development came when U.S. Senate investigators released a 114-page document that among other things shows how Liechtenstein is used as a tax haven. The document was released prior to a hearing on Thursday at which UBS, Switzerland's largest bank, announced it would no longer help U.S. investors hide funds in secret accounts offshore.

The Liechtenstein tax scandal erupted earlier this year. Heinrich Kieber, a former employee with LGT Group, a bank owned by Liechtenstein's royal family, snuck off with computer records showing how individuals from all over the world — including some from Canada — use the sleepy alpine enclave as a place to hide money from tax agencies.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/legalpost/arch...

This epidemic is showing no signs of ending. Every day brings another "ignore" to the attention of The Rest of the World and U.S. Bloggers.

(Experts suspect that the love of money is the root of THIS evil along with many other "MSM based incidents" over the past 8 years.)

Report reveals UBS role in tax scandal
Miami Herald
July 18, 2008

As banks in Switzerland and Liechtenstein came under scrutiny for helping wealthy clients avoid U.S. taxes, the road led through South Florida and swanky local events that attracted the ultra-rich.

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/608682.html

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DailyKos
Gramm's Connection To Another Scandal
July 18, 2008
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/7/18/103016/902/869/...

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UBS’ Liechtenstein adviser helped scandal-tainted clients
8 July 2008 - Press Briefing/Wealth Bulletin

http://www.wealth-bulletin.com/home/content/2451172025 /

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UBS Liechtenstein Adviser Had Scandal-Tainted Clients (Update2)
Bloomberg
July 7, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aQ0...

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Tax scandal leaves Swiss giant reeling

The Observer, Sunday June 29, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/29/ubs.bank...

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The Wall Street Journal: U.S. to Seek Client Names From UBS In Tax Case
May 2008

http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2008/05/15/shell-cfo-pete... /

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Bloggers' collection of stories on UBS scandal
http://wordpress.com/tag/ubs /

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From Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UBS_AG

UBS Controversies:

In January 1997, Christoph Meili, a night watchman at the Union Bank of Switzerland (as UBS was then known), found the bank historian destroying archives compiled by a subsidiary that had extensive dealings with Nazi Germany, in direct violation of a recent Swiss law (adopted on December 13, 1996) protecting such material. UBS acknowledged that it had "made a deplorable mistake", but maintained that the destroyed archives were unrelated to the Holocaust. Meili was suspended from his job at the security company that served UBS, following a criminal investigation into whether his whistleblowing had violated bank secrecy laws.<11>

In 2001, UBS was blamed for refusing to extend Swissair's line of credit, forcing a grounding of Swissair's planes on October 2, 2001. UBS Chairman Marcel Ospel was blamed by many for ostensibly evading the request for an extension of Swissair's line of credit, and the day after the grounding, thousands of demonstrators marching in front of the Swissair headquarters carried a banner reading "Bin Ospel" (comparing him to Osama bin Laden because of the effect of his actions on airlines' business).<12>

In April 2002, Bank of America sued five people who left its asset- and mortgage-backed securities groups for UBS, alleging that the five conspired to steal trade secrets, proprietary software and clients from Bank of America. Bank of America filed a lawsuit for US$ 20 million against Shahid Quraishi, Peter Faigl, Paul Scialabba, Reggie DeVilliers and Daniel Huang, who had previously worked for their asset-backed group based in Charlotte.<13>

On March 20, 2003 UBS client, HealthSouth and its founder/CEO Richard M. Scrushy were accused by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of an accounting scandal where the company's earnings were falsely inflated by $1.4 billion. In 1996, Scrushy allegedly instructed the company's senior officers and accountants to falsify company earnings reports in order to meet investor expectations and control the price of the company's stock. In certain fiscal years, the company's income was overstated by as much as 4700 percent. The $1.4 billion represents more than 10 percent of the company's total assets. Three senior bankers at UBS Howard Capek, Benjamin Lorello and William McGahan, all whom had extremely close relationships with HealthSouth's management, all testified for congressional hearings, but none was convicted of any wrongdoing. McGahan, who was in jeopardy of losing his employment with the firm at the height of the scandal <14>, later resigned on April 10, 2004 for personal reasons not related to the scandal. <15>

On May 10, 2004 UBS was fined $100 million by the U.S.Federal Reserve for illegally transferring funds from an account set up by the Federal Reserve at UBS to Iran, Cuba and other countries presently under a U.S. trade embargo. <16>

In April 2005, UBS lost the high profile case Zubulake v. UBS Warburg, a discrimination and retaliation suit. The plaintiff Laura Zubulake, a former institutional equities saleswoman at the company's Stamford office, alleged her manager, Matthew Chapin, had undermined and removed her from professional responsibilities, excluded her from business outings, belittled her to colleagues and generally treated her different from the men on her desk. Also, she alleged th