My August 17th “Asset Search News Roundup” referred to the settlement of the case over the “John Doe” summons served on UBS in Miami. As more fully discussed at “UBS & Its John Doe Summons“, the IRS had brought the case to identify U.S. tax cheats who concealed their UBS bank accounts in
Financial Institutions
Eliciting Evidence From Foreign Bank Witnesses
Some post-judgment creditors, divorcing spouses and other private litigants use a domestic summons / subpoena to elicit an adversary’s bank customer information from a foreign bank witness. Under limited circumstances, these private litigants might serve a domestic summons / subpoena, as set forth by the Court in First American Corp. v. Price Waterhouse, 154…
Some Abusive Offshore Tax Avoidance Schemes At UBS
By Fred Abrams on
U.S. taxpayers who beneficially own a foreign bank account with assets in excess of $10,000, are required to disclose the same at Schedule B, Part III of their U.S. Individual Tax Return Form 1040. These taxpayers must also separately file a TDF 90-22.1, (a.k.a. a “FBAR” form), the first page of which is shown here:…
UBS & Its “John Doe” Summons
By Fred Abrams on
“A Domestic Subpoena / Summons In An Offshore Asset Search” describes how the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice were granted court permission to serve a “John Doe” summons on UBS AG. This summons was supposed to help the IRS identify assets and / or undeclared revenue hidden by any U.S. taxpayers…
Asset Search News Roundup: March 7, 2009
By Fred Abrams on
The "Asset Search News Roundup" for this week explores the vital role financial institutions have in detecting assets concealed through money laundering. This kind of issue arose in a most recent phone conversation I had with an investigator who works for a Financial Intelligence Unit located offshore. The investigator had read one of my articles herein…
Asset Search News Roundup: February 27, 2009
By Fred Abrams on
This week’s "Asset Search News Roundup" is about bank secrecy laws which can be exploited by tax cheats or other individuals fraudulently concealing their assets. As the OECD explained at page 19, ¶¶ 29 & 30 of "Improving Access To Bank Information For Tax Purposes", bank secrecy laws play a critically important role…
Bank Melli Accused Of Hiding Its Fifth Avenue Assets
U.S. authorities are seeking the sanction of asset forfeiture in connection with a 36-story Fifth Avenue N.Y.C. building, alleged to be partly owned by Iran’s Bank Melli. "Assets Seized at Company Suspected of Funneling Money to Iran" and / or a U.S. Treasury Department press release, also report that Bank…
Asset Search News Roundup: December 21, 2008
By Fred Abrams on
Posted in Asset Search News, Financial Institutions
O.J. Simpson’s Pro Football Hall of Fame ring; a report that Minnesota could even suffer because of Bernard Madoff’s suspected $50 billion Ponzi scheme; and Liechtenstein’s new Tax Information Exchange Agreement; are the focus of this "Asset Search News Roundup":
- By interdicting O.J. Simpson’s diamond encrusted Pro Football Hall of Fame ring, Judgment Creditor Fred
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Financial Discovery & Foreign Bank Secrecy Laws
By Fred Abrams on
A foreign bank witness located in an offshore tax haven will likely rely on bank secrecy laws to resist discovery about a bank customer’s financial information. A foreign court located where this foreign bank witness resides could however, apply an exception to bank secrecy law. If this happens, the foreign court might then end up…
Foreign Bank Secrecy Laws & An Asset Search
Assets hidden in an offshore tax haven which are the subject of a divorce, forced collection proceeding, etc., can sometimes be uncovered by eliciting evidence from a bank witness residing in that offshore tax haven. This is true because letters rogatory or other legal proceedings can usually be brought against an offshore bank witness in…