• Case Law - QuickRead Top Story

    Legal Update: January 2025

    Mancini v. UBS AG: Valuation of Collateral Pursuant to an Event of Default This article discusses the recent case of Mancini v. UBS AG, a case where UBS liquidated Plaintiff’s collateral following an event of default. The issue before the court was whether UBS AG acted arbitrarily when it liquidated Plaintiff’s account based on an earlier valuation date, rather than based on a higher and more recent account value. “Timing is everything” may be a cliché, but when it comes to valuation, it is certainly true. In Mancini v. UBS AG, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 213279 (S.D. N.Y. November 21,…

  • QuickPress

    FINRA Fines Raymond James Record $17M for Compliance Failures

    The regulator says the firm had “widespread failures” in its anti-money laundering programs for both its employee and independent channels.  This is the largest penalty the regulator has dished out for that type of infraction, describes Andrew Welsch, senior editor of On Wall Street. To read the full article in Financial Planning, click: FINRA Fines Raymond James Record $17M for Compliance Failures.

  • IRS - QuickPress

    IRS Loses Big in Tax Evasion Trials

      Back in 2007, the IRS and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) were hot on the heels of Switzerland-based mega financial institutions like UBS, Credit Suisse, and Wegelin for assisting wealthy Americans in hiding billions of dollars in foreign accounts. Part of the fallout included the enactment of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in 2010, which requires all foreign banks to file reports with the IRS on all American accounts over $50,000. Americans must also file the disclosure separately on their yearly returns. Failure to report results in a 40 percent penalty for the account holder and even…

  • QuickPress - Tax

    U.S. Department of Justice Pursues 20K Tax Cheats Shielded by Credit Suisse

    You could call it UBS, Part II.  Back in 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) uncovered 4,700 names of American citizens avoiding taxes with the help of Switzerland’s largest bank, UBS.  Most notably, Beanie Babies creator and billionaire, Ty Warner, was caught in the sting that cost UBS $780 million in fines and netted the IRS $6 billion in taxes and fines from a voluntary disclosure program for petrified tax cheats.  This time around, it’s Switzerland’s second largest bank, Credit Suisse Group (CSG) that’s in the crosshairs of the IRS.  It’s estimated that CSG is harboring offshore accounts for…