“More Swiss banks are coming clean with U.S. authorities and experts say that could mean trouble for U.S. tax cheats and their investment managers.
The U.S. Justice Department said it reached its 20th deal under the Swiss Bank Program last week. The program, which began two years ago, offered leniency to Swiss banks that were hiding Americans’ assets from the Internal Revenue Service if the firms agreed to give up information on account holders. Authorities are ”mining this trove of information,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo said in an emailed statement, and have “identified and are investigating individual accountholders who willfully concealed their foreign accounts, as well as domestic and foreign facilitators who helped U.S. taxpayers dodge their obligations.”
The program started in 2013 and authorities began announcing resolutions last spring, with Swiss banks agreeing to penalties ranging from as little as $9,090 to $211 million.”
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