IRS, Justice Target Undisclosed Assets In Swiss Accounts -- Washington PostAt the Beverly Hills office of criminal defense lawyer Edward M. Robbins Jr., anxious new clients are showing up with an unexpected problem.
The clients put money in Swiss bank accounts, where it was supposed to stay secret. But now those depositors fear the U.S. Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department will gain access to their bank records, Robbins said.
"They're coming in from the cold. They're nervous," Robbins said.
And with good reason, the former federal prosecutor said. A lawyer who specializes in tax cases, Robbins thinks the government is gearing up to prosecute large numbers of Americans for failing to disclose foreign accounts on their tax returns and evading taxes on income generated by the accounts.
"If I were one of these guys with 10 to 50 million in my account, I'd be having an aneurysm," Robbins said. "It's an extremely dangerous situation for these guys."
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My Comment: Cannot say that I am surprised. International terrorism has not only changed how we board a plane, but it also has changed how money is transferred or kept in overseas accounts. Governments .... like the U.S. .... have positioned overseas banks to realize that if terrorists are using their bank's secrecy laws to facilitate a terrorist strike, the blowback would be tremendous.
But even though terrorism (or the drug trade) is the reason given to open up secret bank accounts, the real reason is to snare people who are hiding their earnings abroad. This includes not only individuals, but also large multinational corporations.