David Voreacos

UBS Group is being investigated by the U.S. over whether it helped Americans evade taxes by improperly using securities that let owners conceal their identity, three people familiar with the matter said.

Raoul Weil, who once ran UBS AG’s global wealth-management business, referred to accounts hidden by U.S. clients from the IRS as “toxic waste,” a witness at his tax-conspiracy trial said.

Martin Lack, the fourth ex-UBS AG banker to plead guilty to aiding wealthy Americans in evading taxes, avoided prison for a 17-year scheme in which he helped U.S. clients maintain secret overseas accounts.

Thirteen Swiss banks face rising stakes in their own criminal probes after Credit Suisse Group set a new standard for punishment in the U.S. crackdown on offshore tax evasion.

Credit Suisse agreed to pay $2.6 billion in penalties and pleaded guilty to helping Americans cheat on their taxes, making it the first global bank in a decade to admit to a crime in a U.S. courtroom.

With Credit Suisse Group AG poised to become the first bank in more than a decade to admit to a crime in the U.S., regulators have been reaching out to some of the firm’s biggest business partners to avert a panic, according to a person briefed on those communications.

Credit Suisse Group AG is close to reaching an agreement to plead guilty and pay about $2.5 billion to the U.S. Justice Department and regulators to resolve investigations into whether it helped Americans evade taxes, three people familiar with the matter said.

Credit Suisse Group may be close to resolving a U.S. tax-evasion probe with an agreement that might include a penalty of more than $1 billion, after creating a separate entity last year to house the businesses involved.

New York’s top banking regulator sent a subpoena to Credit Suisse Group last week as he examines whether its private bank helped clients evade state taxes, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

New York's top banking regulator is joining the U.S. Justice Department in investigating whether Credit Suisse Group helped U.S. clients evade taxes, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

A Morgan Stanley broker and the managing clerk at the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP were arrested today for an insider-trading scheme that authorities said netted $5.6 million in illicit profit.

A U.S. Senate committee report will reprimand Credit Suisse Group for helping American clients dodge taxes and will criticize the Justice Department for not pursuing offshore banks aggressively enough, according to two people with knowledge of the findings.

A U.S. judge said the Internal Revenue Service can demand information from UBS AG about U.S. clients of Wegelin & Co., the Swiss bank that pleaded guilty this month to conspiring to help cheat the IRS.