The Wall Street Journal
By Deborah Ball
ZURICH—Weeks after the overthrow of Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier in 1986, Haiti asked Switzerland to freeze $5 million it alleged Mr. Duvalier had stolen and stashed in Swiss bank accounts.
Switzerland has been trying to give the money back to Haiti for nearly 24 years. But the simple act [...]
The Washington Post–Alarmed by an exodus of money from Afghanistan, U.S. and Afghan authorities are trying to constrict a flow of cash through the country’s main airport, believed to be a major conduit for drug proceeds and diverted foreign aid.
Bloomberg–China’s households hide as much as 9.3 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) of income that is not reported in official figures, with 80 percent accrued by the wealthiest people, a study showed.
McClatchy–These days, the local businesses in your neighborhood probably pay a higher percentage of their income in taxes than U.S. Fortune 500 companies.
Washington, DC (The Hill) — The U.S. launched a new initiative on Sunday aimed at battling large-scale public corruption in foreign states.
Financial Times–Thousands of UK taxpayers with accounts in Liechtenstein face having their bank accounts closed, and heavy fines imposed, if they continue to flout UK tax law.
Bloomberg–A U.S. tech company identified only by the pseudonym “Delta” generated as much as 55 percent of its revenue domestically while reporting to shareholders that only 10 percent of its pretax income came from U.S. operations, according to a report presented to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Bloomberg–The German government may be about to step up its pursuit of tax evaders amid reports that a new CD containing stolen bank data has been offered for sale to state authorities.
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.) said he will attempt to add sanctions for banks judged to be helping U.S. customers evade taxes to a small business bill now pending in the Senate.
ZURICH (Dow Jones) — A Swiss court Monday said it backed a U.S.-Swiss deal governing the handover of thousands of pages of confidential data on clients of UBS AG (UBS) to U.S. tax officials as “binding,” rejecting an appeal by a client of the Swiss bank in a test case.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. grand jury indicted on Thursday a Swiss lawyer accused of aiding a man identified as having an account at London-based HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA.L) evade taxes, the latest in a widening probe into foreign banks that might have helped U.S. clients avoid paying tax.
WASHINGTON – The former ABN AMRO Bank N.V., now named the Royal Bank of Scotland N.V., has agreed to forfeit $500 million to the United States in connection with a conspiracy to defraud the United States, to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and to violate the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA), as well as a violation of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., for the District of Columbia.
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) today designated Colombian money launderers Maria Mercedes Jimenez Urrego and Jorge Enrique Jimenez Urrego as drug kingpins due to their significant roles in international narcotics trafficking on behalf of drug trafficking organizations, including the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC). OFAC also today named 17 other individuals and 12 entities as Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers (SDNTs). Today’s action, OFAC’s 13th against the FARC and its support networks, was taken pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act), which prohibits U.S. persons from conducting financial or commercial transactions with these individuals and entities, and freezes any assets the designees may have under U.S. jurisdiction.
MIAMI, May 3 (Reuters) – A former private banker at Julius Baer (BAER.VX), who alleges the Swiss bank knowingly helped rich clients dodge taxes, said on Monday that U.S. clients have long paid a premium for Swiss firms’ tax advantages.
U.S. DOJ–A federal court in Jackson, Miss., has ruled in favor of the United States involving a businessman’s attempt to use a KPMG- marketed tax shelter to avoid paying income tax on approximately $18 million in capital gains. According to the opinion, in 2001, J. Kelley Williams of Jackson became aware that he would have $18 million in capital gains from one of his investments. His KPMG accountant suggested that he use a marketed tax shelter strategy by the name of “Family Office Customized” or “FOCUS” to avoid paying tax on that gain. The tax shelter involved a series of preplanned steps using foreign currency straddles and a three-tiered partnership structure to create sham losses.
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