Wealthy Americans sue UBS to keep names secret
Pressure on UBS not to reveal to the Internal Revenue Service the names of 52,000 American clients with offshore banking accounts intensified yesterday.
Pressure on UBS AG of Zurich, Switzerland, not to reveal to the Internal Revenue Service the names of 52,000 American clients with offshore banking accounts intensified yesterday when several of those customers sued the bank in a Swiss federal court.
The suit, which is aimed at preventing the disclosure of the clients’ identities, charges UBS and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority with violating Swiss bank secrecy laws. Peter Kurer, chairman of UBS and Egen Haltiner, chairman of Finma, were also named as defendants.
The suit is a response to a civil lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice in federal district court in Miami last week seeking to force the bank to turn over the names of the 52,000 clients, who have an estimated $15 billion in assets in the accounts.
According to the lawsuit, the IRS is seeking the names of the accounts as part of an investigation “to determine the identity of U.S. taxpayers who have violated the Internal Revenue Code by failing to report the existence of, and income earned in, undeclared Swiss accounts with UBS.”
In a statement, UBS said it will “vigorously contest” the enforcement of the IRS’ “John Doe” summons seeking the names of the accounts, citing Switzerland’s strict financial-privacy laws.
The lawsuit filed by its clients in Switzerland was “without merit,” UBS said in a statement.
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