UBS chiefs aware of problems before SEC probe
Letter shows UBS chiefs knew of problems long before US authorities began investigation, claims FT
UBS executives knew that some of the bank’s staff had behaved in a way that
risked breaching US securities law a year before an investigation was begun,
according to the Financial Times.
The FT claims it has seen a letter, dated May 2006, acknowledging
the risk written to Bradley Birkenhead, the UBS banker at the centre of a US
investigation into whether the bank helped clients evade taxes by transferring
money to European tax havens.
The SEC and Department of Justice revealed an investigation was underway in
May of this year.
The FT says that in the letter UBS’ then general counsel Peter Kurer
reveals he had received information from a whistle blower in relation to private
banking for wealthy US clients. An internal investigation then followed, the FT
says.