Israel's Largest Bank Agrees to $874M Fine For Conspiring to Help US Citizens Hide $7.6 BILLION in Assets Overseas

RT
May. 03, 2020

The top bank in Israel will hand over just shy of $900 million to the US Treasury after it was implicated in a tax evasion scheme, helping Americans to hide billions of dollars in wealth in thousands of foreign accounts.

Bank Hapoalim BM, as well as its Swiss subsidiary, agreed to pay the damages after submitting a guilty plea over allegations that it concealed some $7.6 billion in over 5,500 secret Swiss and Israeli bank accounts, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday. The $874 million sum is the second-largest recovered by the Treasury in an offshore tax evasion case since 2008, the DOJ added.

“Today, Bank Hapoalim is being held accountable for its conduct – it has admitted to its crimes and will surrender all fees it earned, repay the United States for lost tax revenue, and pay a substantial fine,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman.

At least four senior bank executives, including two former board members, were “directly involved” in the tax avoidance scheme, according to US officials. They were implicated in the conspiracy in a years-long joint investigation by the DOJ, the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal division and US attorneys.

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