Former head of UBS AG ‘s global wealth management business, Raoul Weil, has been accused of conspiring to help rich Americans evade paying taxes. Rather than go to trial, he may be cutting a deal and trying to help U.S. prosecutors.
Weil was indicted in October 2008 and then was officially declared a fugitive. Bloomberg reports that Raoul Weil is the highest-ranking banker among about 100 people charged since 2008 by the U.S. in a crackdown on offshore tax evasion.
In 2008, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated a a multi-million-dollar tax evasion probe. The case involved UBS considering disclosures that were made by bankers from the financial giant. Testimonies were given to the US Department of Justice, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, and the US IRS.
“Raoul Weil speaks German, English, French and Spanish beyond his native Swiss-German. The indictment accuses him of running a cross-border business that used secret Swiss accounts to conceal $20 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service.”
According to Yahoo Finance Weil was fired by UBS when he was indicted. He then continued to live in Switzerland. Moving onward, he joined the small bank Reuss Private Group, and became the bank’s CEO.
“On October 19, 2013, Weil was arrested at Bologna, Italy. He was then extradited to the United States; he will be in in federal court in Florida. The case is U.S. v. Weil, 08-cr-60322, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Fort Lauderdale).”
The expectations are that Weil will plead guilty as well as cooperate with prosecutors.It is also expected that he will try to seek leniency.The DOB declined to comment.
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