Bank Julius Baer continues to sit on the hot seat. It is still my favorite as the next target for the U.S. government.
It is likely that some of its customers are about to get an uncomfortable letter from their country’s tax authorities. I’m not saying that the employees of Bank Julius Baer have done anything evil. I’m just saying that a lot of eyeballs are looking in that direction right now.
I have written about Rudolf Elmer before. He’s a disgruntled former employee of Bank Julius Baer. When he didn’t get the severance package he wanted, he leaked some files to Wikileaks.
Today he turned over information on 2,000 customers to Wikileaks. See the article in The Guardian or Bloomberg. He handed the disks straight to Julian Assange. The man sure knows how to generate publicity. (Thanks T. for the email.)
Mr. Elmer goes on trial tomorrow in Switzerland for violating bank secrecy laws.
This is the way it goes for the tax authorities. Someone gives (or sells) the tax authorities inside information. Secrecy is breached. The investigation expands. Expense and imprisonment follow.