Monday, May 21, 2012
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - The Justice Department called Switzerland's largest private bank a fugitive from justice Friday after it didn't send any representatives to a court hearing in New York, where it has been charged with conspiring with American clients to hide $1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Service.
Wegelin & Co. is accused of helping at least 100 U.S. clients conceal huge sums of money from the IRS in overseas accounts. Federal prosecutors said the bank recruited American customers who were concerned about possible prosecution for tax violations at home, including some that had already pulled money out of other Swiss banks because of growing pressure from U.S. law enforcement.
The bank was indicted in the case on Feb. 2
U.S. officials, however, have yet to find a way to move the case forward. The three Wegelin advisers charged in the case, Michael Berlinka, Urs Frei and Roger Keller, have not been arrested and the Justice Department has decided that any attempt to extradite them from Switzerland is unlikely to succeed.
The bank was summoned to appear before a federal judge in New York at 3 p.m. Friday, but neither a bank officer nor a lawyer showed.
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