EON

Washington seems to have hit the mother lode after its lawsuit against Swiss banking giant UBS produced the names of 500 American account holders, with promises of thousands more. The potential threat of Department of Justice (DOJ) investigations led nearly 15,000 wealthy Americans to take advantage of the government’s tax amnesty program which expired in October. In any given year only about 100 individuals turn themselves in to IRS investigators. According to U.S. law, any offshore accounts in excess of $10,000 must be reported to the government.

According to U.S. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, “The message to American taxpayers is clear: the era of bank secrecy and hidden assets is over.”

Though the tax amnesty program was available to American account holders in more than 70 countries, the successful prosecution of six UBS clients under an earlier disclosure settlement seems to have opened the floodgates. UBS alone is preparing to release the names and information on some 4,450 American-held accounts after being sued this past February over the names of as many as 52,000 potential U.S. tax cheats. Clients of other well-known institutions like Credit Suisse Group AG and HSBC Holdings have also come forward about offshore holdings.