The Department of Justice has announced that it has signed an addendum to a non-prosecution agreement with Swiss private bank Union Bancaire Privée (UBP).
The original non-prosecution agreement was signed on 6 Janaury 2016. At that time, UBP reported that it held and managed 2,919 US-related accounts, with assets under management of approximately $4.9bn, and paid a penalty of $187,767,000.
In reaching today's agreement, UBP acknowledges it should have disclosed additional US-related accounts to the department at the time of the signing of the non-prosecution agreement.
"Foreign banks that participated in the Swiss Bank Program were obligated to identify all accounts in which US taxpayers held an interest, directly or indirectly," said Richard E. Zuckerman, principal deputy assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division. "Today's agreement reflects our continued commitment to ensuring that when entities cooperate and make disclosures to the Department, that they do so fully."
The department executed non-prosecution agreements with 80 banks between March 2015 and January 2016. The department imposed a total of more than $1.36bn in Swiss Bank Program penalties. Pursuant to today's agreement, UBP will pay an additional sum of $14m and will provide supplemental information regarding its US-related account population, which now includes 97 additional accounts.
Every bank that signed a non-prosecution agreement in the Swiss Bank Program had represented that it had disclosed all known US-related accounts that were open at each bank between 1 August 2008, and 31 December 2014. Each bank also represented that it would, during the term of the non-prosecution agreement, continue to disclose all material information relating to its US-related accounts.
In reaching today's agreement, UBP acknowledges that there were additional US-related accounts that it knew about, or should have known about, but that were not disclosed to the Department at the time of the signing of the non-prosecution agreement. UBP has fully cooperated with the department with respect to the additional US-related accounts.
