Those Swiss

One may not normally consider the Swiss to be sneaky; I usually associate chocolate with them. But apparently they have earned their stripes for covert operations. The Swiss bank UBS AG helped about 52,000 Americans (the real number is not yet known due to the bank’s refusal to hand over their records) evade taxes on a combined sum of $14.8 billion dollars. That is a lot of money, especially when our economy can use all the help it can get! This was also no feather operation, the bank made sure all sides were covered for their clients: they had 24/7 hotlines that would offer advice in case their clients ran into trouble, and their clients had laptops with a “generic UBS PowerPoint presentation” to show in case of a border search. And just in case that wasn’t enough, (this is my favorite part), they “allegedly staged training sessions so that ‘client advisers’ could travel frequently to consult with secret U.S. customers without attracting the attention of tax agents or law enforcement officials. They were told to keep ‘an irregular hotel rotation’ and falsely claim on customs forms that they were in the U.S. on pleasure, not business.” They sure went through a lot of effort to cover up their naughty deeds. Well I guess it was all for naught now because the IRS is breathing down their backs and doing all they can to get their hands on the bank’s clientele records. If you’re interested in reading more about the ways the bank helped to conceal their operations, click here.