Credit Suisse 'cloak-and-dagger' tactics cost US taxpayers billions – senators

[Coyotl]

Credit Suisse 'cloak-and-dagger' tactics cost US taxpayers billions

John McCain and Carl Levin say offshore schemes operated by Swiss firm helped 22,000 Americans hide billions from taxman
Dominic Rushe in New York 25 February 2014 http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/25/credit-suisse-offshore-tax-senators

Credit Suisse used “cloak-and-dagger schemes that belong in a spy novel” to help 22,000 US customers hide billions of dollars from US tax inspectors, top senators said Tuesday as they released their latest report into offshore tax schemes.

Senators Carl Levin and John McCain had harsh words for the Justice Department and the Swiss government, too, as they released a 178-page permanent subcommittee on investigation (PSI) report into offshore tax avoidance. McCain said US authorities had done too little to prosecute bankers, and accused the Swiss government of trying to “close the door” on misconduct.

The PSI report was released before a congressional hearing Wednesday at which Credit Suisse CEO Brady Dougan and three other senior bank officers are scheduled to appear.

Levin and other US officials have for more than six years been investigating how Americans dodged taxes by hiding assets in secret Swiss bank accounts.

At a press briefing, McCain said offshore tax practices operated by Credit Suisse and other institutions had cost US taxpayers $337.3bn in potential revenue, which he called “the largest amount of tax revenue lost due to evasion in the world.” ............

[denverbill]

1. I'm sure the super-rich will be going to jail any day now. (checking watch)

Oh wait, I forgot. In the US we have two sets of laws: one for the fabulously wealthy, one for everyone else.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

2. No, because some of the had "troubled" childhoods:

http://chicagoist.com/2014/01/03/beanie_babies_founder_ty_warner_unh.php

Beanie Babies Founder Ty Warner: Unhappy Childhood Warrants Probation In Tax Evasion Conviction


When Beanie Babies founder and creator Ty Warner pleaded guilty to tax evasion last September his attorney said Warner “accepts full responsibility for his actions with this plea agreement.”

Flash forward to Thursday where a filing by Warner in federal court listed the reasons he should be spared up to a five year prison sentence including his lifelong charitable work, his owning up to tax evasion and being the product of a troubled childhood. Why are we not surprised that a children's toy magnate claims to have had an unhappy childhood? It's almost a cliche.

The 41-page sentencing memo, which you can read at the Sun-Times, said Warner “emerged from an unhappy family and a youth devoid of educational advantages” to become a sales representative for the Dakin Toy Co. in the mid-1960 selling “plush toys to children.

"Ty especially enjoyed selling a product intended for children, and he developed a keen sense of what particular plush toys children enjoyed," the memorandum read.