NEWSMAX: Wegelin & Co, the oldest Swiss private bank, said Thursday it would shut its doors permanently after more than two and a half centuries following its guilty plea to charges of helping wealthy Americans evade taxes through secret accounts.
The plea, in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, marks the death knell for one of Switzerland’s most storied banks. It is also a potentially major turning point in the battle by U.S. authorities against Swiss bank secrecy.
The bank admitted to charges of conspiracy in helping Americans evade taxes on at least $1.2 billion for nearly a decade. Wegelin agreed to pay $57.8 million to the United States, including $20 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service… (more)
EDITOR: Good riddance! We need laws that would bar US corporations and taxpayers from channeling their income to various tax havens around the world. A few prison terms would go a long way towards ending this disgraceful practice.
