Reuters has this article on a Swiss Asset Manager who reached an NPA with DOJ and turned over U.S. client files. John Miller, Asset manager who helped U.S. find tax cheats beats Swiss spy charges (Reuters 8/31/18), here. I reported on the NPA in Swiss Non-Bank Enabler Enters NPA and Cooperates to Identify U.S. Persons (Federal Tax Crimes Blog 5/9/14), here.
Excerpts from the Reuters article:
A Swiss asset manager who in 2013 provided U.S. prosecutors with more than 100 files from clients suspected of dodging taxes has been cleared of spying-related charges in his home country, recently published Swiss court documents showed.
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In a 17-page ruling, a Swiss judge concluded there was insufficient evidence to convict him. It was delivered in May, but published only later by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court. Details have not been widely reported, even in Switzerland.
“It can be presumed in favor of the accused that he believed in the legality of his approach and didn’t consider the possibility that he acted unlawfully for a foreign state,” the ruling said.
In November 2013, Egli's Swisspartners Group provided records on 109 clients to the U.S. Department of Justice, court documents show, helping his company secure a relatively mild $4.4 million settlement deal with American prosecutors aggressively pursuing tax cheats with wealth stashed abroad.
The move landed him in trouble in Switzerland, however, where authorities accused Egli of “forbidden actions in the service of a foreign country.” The Swiss attorney general’s office (OAG) sought fines of $275,000.
While U.S. DOJ officials lauded his “extraordinary cooperation” at the time, Egli was criticized at home by some Swiss media for turning over client data as he secured a non-prosecution agreement for Swisspartners.
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Egli’s case is an easy-to-miss footnote among the billions of dollars of U.S. settlements in recent years reached by dozens of Swiss banks over harboring untaxed assets.
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