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WSJ says former MD of Cayman Islands Monetary Authority worked at collapsed hedge fund

1200x-1In a story that appeared in The Wall Street Journal on April 16 2015 by Laurence Fletcher it says:

“John Bourbon, a former managing director of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority and head of supervision at the Isle of Man Financial Supervision Commission, was a director of Isle of Man-based Heather from 2006 onward, according to corporate filings. He also worked as a director of Aarkad, the main fund that fed money into Heather.

“Mr. Bourbon, who became a director of Heather more than four years after leaving the Cayman Islands financial regulator, isn’t accused of any wrongdoing.

“Investors lost every cent in the collapse of Heather, which told investors it has lent their money to property developers in Scotland.”

To read the whole article and video go to: http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-top-financial-regulator-worked-at-collapsed-hedge-fund-heather-capital-1429169166

See also iNews Cayman related story published February 24 2015 “Knighted hedge fund manager embroiled in embezzlement probe” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/knighted-hedge-fund-manager-embroiled-in-embezzlement-probe/

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America’s most-wanted Swiss Bankers aren’t hard to find

By Jesse Drucker From Bloomberg

At least 21 financial advisers in Switzerland charged with aiding American tax dodgers are at large

With its tan marble floors and leather-clad reception desk, the staid Zurich offices of the Julius Baer Group, one of Switzerland’s largest private banks, are an unlikely place to find an alleged fugitive from American justice. And yet it’s here that I meet Fabio Frazzetto. Almost four years ago a federal grand jury in Manhattan indicted Frazzetto, a longtime client adviser for the bank, charging him with conspiring to help dozens of wealthy Americans conceal hundreds of millions of dollars from the Internal Revenue Service by using undeclared accounts, code names, and foreign relatives.

When I pay an unannounced visit to Julius Baer in February, it takes only a few minutes before Frazzetto comes out and greets me, wearing a well-tailored pinstripe suit. He is polite but declines to speak at length. His legal status is “certainly uncomfortable,” he says, and he can’t leave Switzerland without risking arrest. His office has become something of a gilded cage. “I have a very pleasant employer,” he vaguely explains. “That’s what I always say.” (Julius Baer declined to comment on Frazzetto’s indictment.)

For decades, Switzerland has occupied an outsize role in the world of shady international finance. The country’s strict secrecy laws have made it the offshore banking destination of choice for U.S. tax evaders, Russian oligarchs, Nigerian kleptocrats, and Brazilian money launderers. According to research by Gabriel Zucman, an assistant professor at the London School of Economics, Swiss banks still hold at least $2 trillion that customers haven’t declared to tax authorities in their home countries. “You’re not a self-respecting Swiss bank if you don’t have some dodgy money floating around your system,” says Martin Kenney, an attorney in the British Virgin Islands who specializes in international fraud.

Since 2008 the U.S. Department of Justice and the IRS have been waging an uneasy war against Swiss banks that enable tax evasion. UBS Group and Credit Suisse Group have paid a combined $3.4 billion in U.S. fines, penalties, and restitution. Wegelin, the country’s oldest bank, closed its doors entirely in 2013 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to evade taxes. In a break from long-standing policy, the government of Switzerland has pledged in recent years to share bank information with tax authorities around the world. But it gets to choose the countries with which it will exchange that data—sort of the financial equivalent of the dating site Tinder, says Andres Knobel, an attorney at the Tax Justice Network, a nonprofit. “There is no way to guarantee they will exchange information,” he says.

Some of the biggest Swiss banks, such as Credit Suisse, have turned over few names of customers with undeclared accounts. And they’re equally reluctant to take action against their employees. Credit Suisse—which in 2014 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to help Americans file false tax returns and agreed to pay the U.S. and New York state $2.6 billion—kept three indicted bankers on its payroll for almost three years after they were charged, despite their failure to respond in court. That ended last May when the New York State Department of Financial Services required the three bankers’ employment be terminated as part of a settlement.

Swiss authorities, however, have refused to hand over any bankers—and the U.S. hasn’t asked for them. At least 21 financial advisers in Switzerland under U.S. indictment remain at large, making them fugitives in the eyes of the American government. Their acts aren’t considered crimes under Swiss law, so the country won’t extradite or prosecute them. Several still work in the Swiss financial industry, offering tax advice and other services. Some still have U.S. clients.

The only Swiss adviser to receive a significant U.S. prison sentence? Bradley Birkenfeld, the former UBS banker who first revealed the widespread practice of Swiss banks setting up undeclared offshore accounts for wealthy Americans. None of the other Swiss bankers and lawyers who pleaded guilty have been sentenced to prison time.

IMAGE: Paradeplatz in Zurich.Photographer: Niels Ackermann/The New York Times via Redux

For more on this story go to: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-16/america-s-most-wanted-swiss-bankers-aren-t-hard-to-find

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