A non-prosecution agreement (NPA) was inked with the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York to relive the bank from criminal prosecution for handling undeclared bank accounts for US taxpayers from 2001 until 2011.
As part of the NPA, the lender has also agreed to surrender $16.3m in revenues it earned from maintaining these undeclared accounts and $7.5m in taxes, its US clients failed to pay.
The federal prosecutors said that the NPA applies only to LLB-Vaduz and not to any of its subsidiaries or any individuals.
Further, the bank accepted that it was aware that certain US taxpayers have undeclared accounts at LLB-Vaduz in order to evade their tax obligations, in violation of the country’s law.
Assistant attorney general Kathryn Keneally stated, "This non-prosecution agreement addresses the past wrongful conduct of LLB-Vaduz in allowing U.S. taxpayers to evade their legal obligations through the use of undisclosed Liechtenstein bank accounts."
Noting the bank’s cooperation in the investigation, the attorney said that it provided more than 200 files of US taxpayers who held undeclared accounts at the bank.
Following settlement of the case, the bank has agreed to shut down its wholly-owned Swiss subsidiary, Liechtensteinische Landesbank and has also decided to dispose of another wholly-owned subsidiary Jura Trust.
