So I don't understand this thing in the news recently about the swiss bank account LGT bank?
It says that the owner of the bank, could be charged with conspiring top help evade u.s. tax which is a felony, but he doesn't live here? So what can our government/IRS do ? When this has been going on for probably 100 years or more, why did the IRS just now decide to do something about this? What is illegal about using a swiss bank account if you are a U.S. citizen? Can the U.S. declare war over this?
Law & Ethics - 4 Answers
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1 :
it is not Swiss. it is the Principality of Lichtenstein. what happened was a disgruntled employee spilled the beans on who held accounts there and sold the list to various governments. so anyone who has been hiding money in those account better watch out if they claimed they didn't have that money. for instance a business cheating on taxes, people cheating on taxes, people hiding money from spouses, people using the bank to help terrorists etc etc.. nothing illegal unless you fail to report your money. international banking will give the prince a slap on the wrist and that will be it. although i suppose theoretically we could declare war on anything we chose, no, this secrecy does not rise to level of an act of war.
2 :
Put it this way: Thanks to a geeky IT guy employed at LGT Bank---the IRS, FBI, CIA and INTERPOL may find out WHO is responsible for the Middle East oil barrel price hikes, the Euro rising value, the U.S. dollar devalue---and the major players involved in wrecking our U.S. economy. Yeah.....the LGT Bank case is THAT BIG. In fact, it's a behemoth sized monster of a case!!!! The IT guy who blew the whistle got burned by LGT. So he snagged THE ENTIRE LIST OF TAX CHEATS IN THE U.S. AND ABROAD.....and downloaded THAT list to the Feds, IRS and INTERPOL. There's some mega-powerful people on that list---details of WHO they are are sure to shock us beyond words. Estimations of how much U.S. tax $$$$ stolen: BEYOND TRILLION$---and the IT guy / whistleblower stands to get from the IRS 30% of any money recovered. Bottom line: the geeky whistleblower IS now a very wealthy man. The bad news is: These powerful players---perhaps a few ABC network news VIPs---posted the whistleblower's face on TV......making him a marked man. Irregardless---the whistleblower is STILL TESTIFYING against these crooks---who not only are mega tax cheats, but MAY BE responsible for epically wrecking both the U.S. and global economy. IF such is the case---I'm looking now for oil prices and other economic price gouging rates to REALLY GO DOWN now and very soon. Because the people on that list CAN BE hunted down like vile dogs, arrested and convicted of epic tax evasion (among other money crimes)----and sent for years to reside in Federal prison. And this inculdes the LGT Bank CEO---should he defy the Feds and INTERPOL : something he'd be smart NOT to do right now. Then again: who ever said the riche were geniuses???? Here's hoping I'm right here!
3 :
There isn't much that our government can do about the prince (who also happens to be the guy that owns the bank) but we can bar that bank... and that entire country from doing business in the US. Also it's not just the in the US.. wealthy people from around the world used that bank to hide money from the taxman.. so I have no doubt that other countries will be sanctioning the bank. The IRS is only acting now because they have evidence... something they never had before. No, we won't be going to war over this.
4 :
As reported on the news, the US can freeze the bank assets of Liechtenstein on deposit in America; the IRS can fine the American account holders and also the bank; and the Justice Dept. can put out an arrest warrant for the owner of the bank (a Prince, no less, Hans-Adam II). It would be very hard for the Prince to get a visa to America. Liechtenstein is not part of the EU, btw. As an American, you CAN have a Swiss bank account, but now the Swiss have agreed to provide tax ID numbers to America. The Swiss started cooperating just before 9-11. The funny part about all this is former Sen. Phil Gramm, pal to Sen. McCain for over 25 years. Phil called Americans "a bunch of whiners" and he sits on the Board of Directors of UBS, the Swiss Bank that sold these type of accounts to wealthy Americans. Part of the Swiss bank's services included hired couriers to transport cash and valuables to Liechtenstein. I wanna know what Phil's involvement was. My guess is they won't touch him.
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