UBS Ordered to Provide Records to U.S.

Wegelin pleaded guilty in a New York court on Jan. 3 to charges of helping wealthy Americans evade taxes through secret accounts, then said it would close down as a result.

Judge William H. Pauley III granted the I.R.S.’s request to issue to UBS a “John Doe” summons, which seeks information about possible tax fraud committed by individuals whose identities are not known, for the names of taxpayers who may have hidden income at Wegelin and other Swiss banks.

A UBS spokesman said the bank would follow the court’s ruling, which demands U.S. records, not Swiss ones, and does not involve any data on UBS clients.

UBS ended its own U.S. investigation in 2009 by admitting it had provided tax-evasion services to rich Americans. It turned over 4,450 client names and paid a $780 million fine.

UBS was later ensnared in the Wegelin case when the government indicted the smaller bank nearly a year ago. The government alleged that Wegelin had used a U.S. correspondent account at UBS to handle funds for U.S. clients, a standard industry practice for foreign banks.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/business/global/ubs-ordered-to-provide-records-to-us.html?partner=rss&emc=rss