Wegelin Must Pay $58 Million in U.S. Tax Prosecution
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Wegelin & Co. was ordered to pay U.S. authorities almost $58 million at the end of a criminal case after the Swiss bank pleaded guilty to helping American taxpayers hide more than $1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Service.
U.S. prosecutors called the misconduct by Switzerland’s oldest private bank, which started in the early 2000s and continued until 2011, “extraordinarily willful.” Wegelin said the U.S. investigation was responsible for forcing it out of business after 272 years.