UBS Ordered to Pay Record $5.1 Billion in French Tax Fraud Trial

Court awards EU3.7 billion fine; EU800 million in damages
Judge issues largest ever French criminal fine in case

UBS’s shares fell as much as 4.8 percent, the most since Jan. 22. Bloomberg Intelligence’s Alison Williams reports.(Source: Bloomberg)

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Gaspard Sebag

February 20, 2019 at 12:50 PM UTC

Updated on

February 20, 2019 at 3:32 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

UBS Group AG was ordered to pay more than 4.5 billion euros ($5.1 billion) by a Paris court that found the bank guilty of helping wealthy French clients stash undeclared funds in Swiss accounts. Shares of UBS fell as much as 4.8 percent.

The Paris criminal court ruled on Wednesday that UBS illegally laundered funds by providing French customers with banking services to hide assets from tax authorities. The judges fined UBS 3.7 billion euros and added another 800 million euros in compensation to the French government.