Posted on 01/13/2009 4:52:18 PM PST by randita
U.S. declares former UBS banker Weil a fugitive
Tue Jan 13, 2009 6:36pm EST
MIAMI (Reuters) - The former head of UBS AG's wealth management business, Raoul Weil, was formally declared a fugitive on Tuesday after failing to surrender to U.S. authorities on charges of conspiring to help wealthy Americans hide assets from U.S. tax authorities.
Prosecutors in Miami released a copy of a judge's brief order putting Weil on the court's fugitive list, but said they would have no further comment.
An indictment unsealed in November alleged that Weil and other unidentified bankers conspired to help 17,000 Americans hide $20 billion of assets in Swiss bank accounts in order to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
At the time, an attorney for Weil said he was innocent and called the indictment against him "totally unjustified."
Weil was based in Switzerland. He oversaw the Swiss bank's cross-border private banking business and was a member of UBS' executive board until stepping down when the charges were made public. UBS has said it was cooperating with investigators.
Weil's failure to appear is bound to refocus attention on prosecutors' so far unsuccessful bid to jail alleged swindler Bernard Madoff while he awaits a possible indictment for fraud in what could the be largest Ponzi scheme in history.
In a Ponzi scheme, early investors are paid off with money from new clients.
(Reporting by Jane Sutton; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
One pigman-crook down, hundreds left to go.
I had a long career with PaineWebber, which was acquired by UBS well after I retired in 1989. The UBS hierarchy must be very proud. They are batting a thousand in all of the troubled areas. The mortgage crisis? Up to their eyeballs. Bernie Madoff? Got plenty of that. Illegal offshore tax havens? But, of course. The only thing they missed was Rezko and Blagojevich. Perhaps I’m just bitter, as I still have some UBS stock in my 401(k).
It is wierd. My dad who is long retired, I tried explaining MBS, CDS, etc, ad nauseam, ad infinitum, and he just doesn’t quite get it. “That’s not how we did business back then, for instance AIG was very conservatively run, etc. He got his business degree in the 50s from a midwest university.
The “swaps” that have ruined whole swaths of the economy are basically huge conglomerates selling insurance to each other, except they weren’t regulated, didn’t trade on an exchange as such, more akin to vegas. Wait, vegas pays off. Never mind.
05.28.08, 2:47 AM ET
ZURICH (Thomson Financial) - UBS has told members of its former private banking team responsible for rich US clients not to travel to America, the Financial Times reported.
The Swiss bank has also made lawyers available to the more than 50 bankers involved, many of whom have left UBS since it decided last November to wind down its cross-border private banking business for US customers.
The move follows the recent indictment of one of the unit's former senior executives, Bradley Birkenfeld, who US authorities have accused of helping a billionaire client evade taxes. Birkenfeld has pleaded not guilty.
UBS' travel restrictions suggest it is concerned that investigations into the bank by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission may widen, the newspaper added. The bank declined to comment, it said.
Any relation to Sandy Weil?
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