France aims to use leaked data to prosecute tax evaders

Details surrounding the acquisition and transfer of client information from HSBC’s Swiss private-banking arm have placed a Franco-Italian computer engineer and colleague at the center of a dispute between Switzerland and France. While Switzerland objects to the use of data that it claims was stolen, France intends to use the data to prosecute potential tax cheats and has even shared the information with other countries.

Although some evidence indicates that the computer engineer and colleague were attempting to sell the client banking information, France insists that it did not pay for the data and rather attained it lawfully. The data was in fact acquired by French authorities acting at the request of a Swiss prosecutor to conduct a search.

Regardless of the details of the data’s acquisition, the release of client information and the ensuing international dispute over legitimacy has, as The Wall Street Journal writes, “rocked the banking world.” Tax evaders in Italy, Spain, and the U.K. may soon face prosecution as a result of this data leak.

Former Bechtel tax manager acquitted

A federal jury acquitted a former global tax manager for Bechtel of charges that he had caused the company to file a false tax return, The Recorder reports.

Prosecutors said the tax manager, Mark Muntean, knew the tax credit was improper, but Muntean's lawyer said his client relied on subordinates, who failed to give him all necessary information.

See "Ex-Bechtel lawyer acquitted in tax-credit prosecution."