Bank J. Safra Sarasin AG allegedly helped to facilitate tax evasion by U.S. citizens. The Swiss bank helped U.S. clients title their offshore accounts in the names of Panama corporations and it falsely signed IRS forms certifying these accounts were owned by Panama entities so U.S. taxpayers wouldn't have to report them. The bank also helped set up nominee entities for U.S.-connected accounts which were undeclared. When the bank came under suspicion for these and other efforts at aiding in tax evasion, it helped U.S.-connected accountholders transfer money to other offshore banks in Israel, Liechtenstein and Hong Kong.

If you had money offshore and didn't file annual Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs), you could find yourself facing penalties imposed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Banks are cooperating with the IRS and giving detailed account information about people with offshore funds.  If the IRS determines you failed to follow the rules for reporting offshore accounts and paying taxes on income, there's the potential for criminal consequences.

Switzerland has long been the location where U.S. investors keep funds offshore because of strong banking privacy laws. With the Swiss Bank Program and the Department of Justice crackdown on Swiss institutions, however, this is no longer the case.

Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) SA and Edmond de Rothschild (Lugano) are two financial institutions that are part of Edmond de Rothschild Switzerland (EdR).  These two institutions made a deal with the Department of Justice in December so EdR can avoid criminal prosecution. The institutions were at risk of being charged with helping to facilitate tax evasion, as the banks reportedly aided U.S. accountholders in hiding funds offshore over the course of more than a decade.  EdR Switzerland had 950 U.S. affiliated accounts at one point, with as much as $2.16 billion in assets in these accounts at one time. 

Luzerner Kantonalbank AG (Luzerner), Habib Bank AG Zurich (HBZ), Banque Heritage S.A. and Hyposwiss Private Bank Genève S.A. (Hyposwiss Geneva) are four foreign financial institutions that are among the latest banks to give U.S. taxing authorities information about customers with offshore accounts.  These banks are now added to the long list of financial institutions that have been willing to turn over details about their customers in order to avoid facing criminal prosecution.