The DOJ’s April 2019 guidance for prosecutors on compliance programs reflects a belief that even as risk taking drives business behavior, so too should legal (particularly criminal) risk drive and inform a business’s compliance program. Simply stated, the more significant the risk-taking environment, the greater the chances for criminal behavior. The guidance recognizes that “each […]

The Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said in 2016 that it would be publicizing a list of sample questions to give companies a better idea of the types of issues that federal investigators may be concerned about in evaluating corporate compliance programs On February 8, 2017, the Criminal Division of the […]

The first non-prosecution agreement signals expanded US tax enforcement opportunities at home and abroad. Since that presentation, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced the first Non-Prosecution Agreement (NPA) with BSI, SA, (BSI) one of Switzerland’s largest banks, under its Swiss Bank Program. The NPA illuminates the Swiss banking community’s struggle to comply with […]

We have reported on the Justice Department’s program offered to Swiss banks and targeted to identifying U.S. taxpayers that have not disclosed foreign accounts to the IRS. [See prior posts here, here and here]. It has now been reported that one-third of all Swiss banks applied to the program. [See Swiss Banks Seek Tax Amnesty […]

  For more than six years—since the United States first indicted UBS in July of 2008 in the Southern District of Florida—Swiss banks have been closely scrutinized by the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) over their alleged assistance of US tax evaders. On August 29, 2013, the DOJ and the Swiss Federal Department of […]