US prosecutors are expected to confront Swiss banking giant UBS with a broad subpoena for the names of wealthy American clients who may have used its services to avoid income taxes, say lawyers and others involved in the case, reports the WSJ. The subpoena would follow an indictment, unsealed Tuesday in Florida federal court, of former UBS private banker Bradley Birkenfeld and his alleged accomplice, Mario Staggl, a Liechtenstein businessman. Birkenfeld pleaded not guilty Tuesday; Staggl is believed to be at large in Liechtenstein. The investigation focuses on whether UBS, Birkenfeld and Staggl helped clients hide assets in Swiss and Liechtenstein accounts, thereby allegedly allowing them to avoid reporting taxable income to US authorities from 2001 at least through 2006. For UBS, a subpoena would take the case to a higher and damaging level for the bank, which has seen its conservative reputation tarnished by $38bn in write-downs on subprime-mortgage investments.

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Thursday, May 15th, 2008 at 5:43 and is filed under Capital markets, People. Tagged with ubs. Edit this entry.