US probes off shore tax evasion

Hundreds of the wealthiest Americans and other super rich individuals around the world could be in deep legal trouble. As an investigation into massive tax evasion unfolds in Washington.
Each year the United States treasury loses up to a 100 billion dollars in tax revenues from off shore tax abuses.
That tax law sits like a millstone around the honest American tax payers who are struggling with high taxes, ever increasing gas prices and rising health care cost.

A U.S senate committee is focusing scrutiny on Swiss bank UBS, one of the worlds largest financial institutions and the privately own LGT bank of Liechtenstein. The two banks are under investigation for allegedly peddling sophisticated tax evasion strategies to super rich Americans and for using their country’s banking secrecy laws as a shield. A former LGT computer technician blew the whistle on the bank scheme and provided thousands of names and account details to tax authorities. He is now wanted for arrest by Liechtenstein for violating bank secrecy laws.
Among the clients who worked with the bank is Peter Lowe, head for US operations for an Australian-American family that owns billions of dollars in real estate and shopping center developments. The Lowe family controlled the rights to retail development at the ground zero site in New York.

Offshore Tax Evasion

Mr. Lowe, have you ever spoken to anyone at LGT bank at Liechtenstein?
Senator I am sorry and mean no disrespect but on the advice council I assert my rights of the fifth amendment of the United States constitution and decline to answer your question.

Cliber’s attorney says the system of tax evasion operates on a global scale. It's the tip of an iceberg, because what we are only talking about are US persons, one bank in Switzerland, we are not talking about the worldwide scope. And the worldwide issue is this, there’s been a wealth transfer from the bottom chunk of the world population to the top one half, one tenth of one percent. And they’ve escaped all kinds of scrutiny. That lack of scrutiny is now coming to an end. US tax authorities have served legal papers on UBS, the state of New York is suing the bank over securities law violations and in June a UBS executive pleaded guilty in a US court to tax fraud.