French court fines UBS $2B in tax scheme

An appeals court in France on Monday ordered Swiss bank UBS to pay a fine of 1.8 billion euros, or about $2 billion, for helping rich clients evade taxes — less than half the penalty the bank had been ordered to pay two years ago in a sensational case that prosecutors had likened to the plot of a James Bond movie.

Judges had ordered UBS in 2019 to pay 3.7 billion euros — the largest fine in French history — for carrying out what prosecutors said was a scheme to help wealthy French clients illegally hide huge sums of money from authorities.

The court Monday cut the fine but upheld the charges against UBS.

UBS has denied wrongdoing, and it said it would appeal the latest ruling to France’s highest court. In seeking a reduced penalty, UBS lawyers argued that although some of its Swiss bankers met with wealthy French clients, they did not unlawfully solicit them to evade taxes.

The case blew open in 2019 after a seven-year investigation by French financial authorities. Several whistleblowers at UBS France came forward with stories of how the banks’ employees in France and Switzerland engaged in illegal activity that essentially bilked French tax authorities of more than 10 billion euros.

Prosecutors described how bankers from UBS France, motivated by the prospect of hefty bonuses, had alerted their counterparts in Switzerland to potential “big potatoes” — French citizens with assets of 500,000 to 10 million euros.

To lure these people to open undeclared accounts outside France, UBS employees traveled clandestinely from Switzerland to France, where they organized swank activities — including shows at the Paris Opera, art exhibits and hunting outings — where the bankers could mingle with prospects in hopes of slipping around French laws prohibiting foreign companies from soliciting clients on French territory, prosecutors said.

To avoid detection, the bankers involved in the scheme followed a UBS “security governance manual” that included instructions for using encrypted computers, business cards without the bank’s logo and switching hotels frequently, prosecutors said.

Four UBS bankers were given suspended jail sentences of up to one year and fines of 300,000 euros each.