Three Swiss banks have to pay a total of more than $130 million to the US. The Justice Department wants to avoid possible prosecution for helping Americans evade taxes. The Zurich-headquartered Crédit Agricole unit will pay $99.2 million, the largest portion of the total fine.
$24.2 million is to be paid by Dreyfus Sons & Co Ltd and $7.7 million by Baumann & Cie, Banquiers, both of Basel, Switzerland. The banks were able to settle the situation under a voluntary program launched by the Ministry of Justice in 2013. Swiss banks can thus avoid potential criminal charges by disclosing information about cross-border activities that helped US account holders hide assets.
As part of the program, banks are also required to provide detailed information about the accounts of American taxpayers under investigation. According to the Justice Department, Crédit Agricole managed about 954 US-linked accounts worth more than $1.8 billion as of August 2008.
Some US taxpayers have been able to completely deplete assets from accounts they hid from the IRS by making multiple cash withdrawals or reloading prepaid money cards.