This past Monday, Wegelin & Co, said to be Switzerland’s oldest private bank, was ordered by a federal judge in New York to pay a fine of $74 million dollars for its violation of U.S. tax laws. For American taxpayers with undisclosed offshore accounts, this was another decidedly unhappy development in a string of unhappy developments.
Starting in 2009, when it reached a landmark agreement with UBS AG that for the first time breached Swiss bank secrecy, the government has been energetic in its pursuit of tax evaders who use foreign institutions in aid of their crimes. This shows no sign of letting up; to the contrary, the effort seem to be accelerating.