UBS Lawyers Played Hardball With French Enforcers, Failed Spectacularly
Switzerland’s biggest bank hoped to settle a tax evasion case with French authorities for $204 millions. But when enforcers dismissed UBS Group’s offer, the bank’s legal team decided to play hardball, pushing the case to trial in the hope of wringing out a smaller penalty, according to a Bloomberg report. That effort failed spectacularly.
The bank has been ordered to pay more than $5 billion in the tax-evasion case — matching what was sought by prosecutors, reports Bloomberg’s Gaspard Sebag.
The article quotes Stephane Bonifassi, a Paris criminal lawyer not involved in the case: “It’s too early to draw any definitive conclusions given the appeals have just begun, but they took a risk in thinking they had a solid case and it’s clear now the strategy didn’t pay off.”
