UBS-the height of banker arrogance and gall

[Thump553]

As you may remember UBS is a giant Swiss bank with a substantial presence in the US. It recently agreed to plead guilty to a criminal conviction of conspiring with US citizen customers to commit tax evasion by secretly setting up Swiss bank accounts for them.

UBS reluctantly admitted, in a recent Senate hearing, that it aided and abetted in the setting up of 47,000 of such bank accounts but is only willing to disclose the names of 300 of those customers to the IRS. The IRS has a civil suit pending to compel disclosure of the rest.

This is a company that took $60 BILLION in US government money under the bailout program last fall.

Frankly, the gall of these scum astonishes me. I don't care how much it would upset our current financial system-we should have rescinded their charter to do business in the US a long time ago. Subsidizing these crooks to evade our tax laws is ridiculous.

An estimated $100 BILLION has been lost in this tax fraud.

I think it is time to make an example.

Underlying article: Text

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: Thump553
As you may remember UBS is a giant Swiss bank with a substantial presence in the US. It recently agreed to plead guilty to a criminal conviction of conspiring with US citizen customers to commit tax evasion by secretly setting up Swiss bank accounts for them.

UBS reluctantly admitted, in a recent Senate hearing, that it aided and abetted in the setting up of 47,000 of such bank accounts but is only willing to disclose the names of 300 of those customers to the IRS. The IRS has a civil suit pending to compel disclosure of the rest.

This is a company that took $60 BILLION in US government money under the bailout program last fall.

Frankly, the gall of these scum astonishes me. I don't care how much it would upset our current financial system-we should have rescinded their charter to do business in the US a long time ago. Subsidizing these crooks to evade our tax laws is ridiculous.

An estimated $100 BILLION has been lost in this tax fraud.

I think it is time to make an example.

Underlying article: Text

LOL. Did you even read that article? They didn't get 60bn in US money, they got 60bn in SWISS MONEY.

I do agree about the tax evasion though.

 

[StageLeft]

I don't care how much it would upset our current financial system-we should have rescinded their charter to do business in the US a long time ago.

Well, I do, because we shouldn't cut off our nose to spite our face. What some of these people have done truly is despicable, but I am frankly increasingly concerned about the cry for blood that I am hearing around, because in the end let's not pretend that these scummy white collar criminals are truly going to get their comeuppance; they will plea things away, pay fines, etc. but still end up richer than everybody else and if the economy is further damaged in the witch hunt, what good does it truly do the rest of us who are already smarting? Will it be much consolation to see the basic foundations of the economy permanently damaged just so we can say we sued some wallstreet scum for some millions?

BTW, this isn't directed at you, but I had to get it out there. Sadly, a lot of Americans think that the damage done in this bubble pop is proof that capitalism doesn't work, as if like spoiled children they do not realize what it has afforded them in this country.

There will ALWAYS be winners and ALWAYS be losers. It's better to be a loser in a rich society than in a poor one.

 

[bamacre]

I wonder how many of those 47,000 bank accounts belong to politicians.

 

[CanOWorms]

I thought people on this forum claim that the Europeans are our allies. Why would they steal our tax money and steal some bailout money? The Swiss, with their most popular political party being very close to the Nazis in ideology, can do no wrong.

 

[dahunan]

As soon as the records are obtained... REVOKE their license and KICK THEIR ASSES OUT

 

[Jaskalas]

That we were stupid enough to give them money should be a side issue, completely irrelevant to how we treat them. If they are abetting in criminal activity, then we should proceed accordingly.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: bamacre
I wonder how many of those 47,000 bank accounts belong to politicians.

Quite a few, I would guess...

 

[Thump553]

Skoorb: I strongly believe in capitalism, but I do not think we should coddle and shelter dishonest players. And that is what UBS is. Read the article I linked explaining what they did wrong-this was not an abberation caused by a few bad employees, but was a large, unified scheme that was at the core of UBS's buisness. It is a disservice to the other banks to continue to allow them to operate here.

LK: you are correct about my link (that's the trouble with looking stuff up at 4:00 AM). As you are probably aware foreign banks operating in the US are eligible for US bailout funds and as you are probably also aware, how the US has disbursed those bailout funds is still pretty much kept secret from US citizens. How about a friendly wager that once the info is publically known that UBS did feed at the US bailout trough?

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: Thump553
LK: you are correct about my link (that's the trouble with looking stuff up at 4:00 AM). As you are probably aware foreign banks operating in the US are eligible for US bailout funds and as you are probably also aware, how the US has disbursed those bailout funds is still pretty much kept secret from US citizens. How about a friendly wager that once the info is publically known that UBS did feed at the US bailout trough?

Name one foreign bank that got TARP funds.

As far as banks that have been able to use CPFF, the Fed window, or other Fed facilities, they are able to do that to keep the market liquid.

 

[Thump553]

US branches of foreign banks are eligible for the TARP program see TARP participation criteria section. As far as which banks actually sucked up the TARP funds, I'm afraid you and I are both intentionally kept in the dark-so far. According to the wikipedia article I linked the Royal Bank of Canada is listed as a recipient of TARP funds in the partial disclosures that have been made to date.

 

[ayabe]

Skoorb - It's not a witch hunt that's going to further drag the economy, these people committed crimes and need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Your apathy is dangerous - apathy is what has been allowing this crap to go on, this is a big part of why we're in this mess to begin with.