Wednesday, March 4, 2009

UBS Says It Met Obama Justice Department Settlement


Mark Branson, a UBS Wealth Management executive, thumbed his nose toward the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. NYT reported:


Branson said the bank had fulfilled “the summons to the fullest extent possible without subjecting its employees to criminal prosecution in Switzerland.”

Federal authorities are seeking to force UBS, the world’s largest private bank, to disclose tens of thousands of names of wealthy American clients. UBS, which averted indictment last month and reached a $780 million deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department, turned over around 250 to 300 names as part of that deal.

Mr. Branson, who is testifying before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said that “the bank has now done all that it can do to cooperate with the John Doe summons” — the federal effort to obtain the 52,000 names.

Branson told members of the United States Senate that Swiss laws trumped U.S. laws? What Justice Department negotiated for 300 names out of 17,000-20,000? That would be the President Barack Obama, clean up Washington, administration. UBS contributed $513,919 to the Obama campaign and was #3 on Rahm Emanuel's lifetime donor list. They're rubbing our noses in it.