Digging for dirt.

Fonction NEWS

UBS AG, Switzerland's biggest bank, has vowed to uphold the country's banking secrecy laws by refusing to divulge the identity of the majority of its U.S. clients, according to online news source swissinfo.

Just one day after UBS agreed to release the names and account data for 250 of its U.S. clients to the U.S. Justice Department, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service slapped the bank with a civil lawsuit seeking the identities of about 52,000 U.S. citizens suspected of tax evasion.

UBS said in a press release it will challenge the IRS summons, and maintains its U.S. client "information is protected from disclosure by Swiss financial privacy laws".

According to the 75-year-old laws, Swiss banking secrecy can't be broken unless clients are thought to have deliberately defrauded tax authorities--but not when they fail to declare all assets.

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"The sudden inflation in the number of names now sought after by U.S. authorities could put Switzerland in an embarrassing position, notably if the...

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