Seven present and former Credit Suisse bankers who are accused of helping Americans cheat on their taxes hope to get the charges against them dismissed in the course of negotiations between the United States and Switzerland to end a long-running dispute between the countries over tax issues.
Lawyers for the seven wrote to Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole on Nov. 8 to say they wanted to resolve their case as part of a settlement between the U.S. and Swiss governments, and any accord between the Department of Justice and Credit Suisse, Bloomberg reported.
The defendants were indicted in July in the Eastern District of Virginia (see Main Justice’s report) in the latest development in an investigation of Credit Suisse, which has long been suspected of helping some wealthy Americans evade taxes. One particularly creative tax-evader carried $250,000 from the United States to Switzerland by hiding the cash in nylon pantyhose, Bloomberg noted.
The defendants include Markus Walder, former head of North America offshore banking at Credit Suisse; Marco Parenti Adami, a senior manager and private banker, and Susanne D. Ruegg Meier, also a senior manager and private banker, Bloomberg said.
And what are the defendants’ prospects of getting the charges dismissed? Not so good, in the opinion of one tax lawyer who is not involved in the case. “I kind of doubt the Justice Department’s tax division would be willing to walk away from this indictment and dismiss it,” Larry Campagna told Bloomberg in a telephone interview. “After convicting other bankers and taxpayers, giving a pass to these people is somewhat unlikely. But if I were representing them, I’d probably do the same thing.”
