Liberty Reserve’s red flags, a new Swiss bill and letters rogatory:

  1. Liberty Reserve’s money laundering spotted in 2009” reports the Costa Rican Financial Intelligence Unit had investigated Liberty Reserve because of  red flags.  This article too mentions that the Financial Intelligence Unit had turned the Liberty Reserve investigation over to Costa Rican prosecutors.
  2. Swiss government peels back bank secrecy rules” is about the Swiss bill, the Federal Act on Measures to Facilitate the Resolution of the Tax Dispute between Swiss Banks and the United States.  A May 29, 2013 Swiss Federal Council press release¹ discusses the bill.  The bill should ultimately help U.S. authorities identify Swiss bank customers pursuant to U.S.-Swiss double taxation agreements.
  3. Letters Rogatory, (a.k.a Judicial Assistance Requests), are sometimes needed in order to search for assets hidden offshore.  By employing a letter rogatory, evidence may be elicited from foreign bank witnesses.  The March 18, 2013 Order at In Re Application of Anton Stoeckl, U.S. District Court, S.D.N.Y., Index No. 12-cv-414, however, focuses on one letter rogatory the Court refused to execute.

¹May 29, 2013 press release courtesy of The Swiss Federal Administration.

Copyright 2013 Fred L. Abrams