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Fact check

Is it true: UBS Swiss-bank US tax evasion DPA (2009)?

Confirmed5% confidence

Yes — this is confirmed.

UBS AG signed a deferred prosecution agreement in February 2009 admitting it helped ~20,000 US clients evade taxes via offshore Swiss accounts. UBS paid $780 million and turned over 4,450 account names. Whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld received a $104 million IRS award in 2012. The case directly triggered FATCA (2010) and a broader Swiss bank amnesty programme (2013). Wegelin Bank closed after US indictment. All findings are based on admitted facts in signed legal instruments.

The claim

UBS AG, Switzerland's largest bank, admitted in a February 2009 deferred prosecution agreement that it had helped approximately 20,000 US clients evade taxes through secret offshore Swiss accounts. UB

Key evidence

Deferred prosecution agreement — UBS admitted the conduct

Birkenfeld himself convicted — not a clean whistleblower

Read the full evidence file

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