UBS to hand over names of U.S. customers

February 19, 2009 – 8:20 pm – No Comment

In the movies you always hear about a “secret Swiss bank account.” That’s usually where a lot of money is hidden for “a rainy day” or to be hidden from the U.S. government. Well, that bank actually exists (to my surprise). UBS is a Swiss bank that has admitted to Federal officials that they were helping customers defraud the U.S. government by holding money from U.S. citizens that wanted to avoid paying taxes.

Well now it’s known that this is where the “Swiss bank accounts” are, UBS is giving up the names of those U.S. citizens that were trying to pull one over on the IRS.

It is unclear how many of its clients’ names UBS will divulge. Federal prosecutors have been examining about 19,000 accounts at the bank, but UBS ultimately may disclose the identities of only a few hundred customers.

But to some, turning over any names at all heralds the end of the secret Swiss bank account, whose traditions date to the Middle Ages.

“The Swiss are saying that this is the end of Swiss banking as they knew it,” said Jack Blum, an offshore tax specialist. “Nobody will trust the security of the Swiss bank account.”

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