Former UBS Executive Acquitted in Tax Conspiracy Case
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Photo by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — A federal jury in Florida acquitted a former executive for Swiss bank UBS on charges that he helped wealthy Americans hide money from the Internal Revenue Service in secret accounts.
Raoul Weil faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiacy to defraud the government. Instead, a jury ruled in his favor, seemingly accepting his defense that the hiding of billion of dollars in Swiss bank accounts was done by his staffers and without his knowledge.
Bloomberg News notes that Weil, 54, was the highest-ranking official out of three dozen bankers, lawyers and advisers charged in a U.S. investigation of offshore tax evasion. UBS had previously avoided prosecution in February 2009 by paying a $780 million fine and admitting to its role in helping Americans hide money from 2000 to 2007.
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