Two more Swiss banks have entered into non-prosecution agreements with the DoJ under a program that encourages cooperation in the department’s ongoing investigations of the use of foreign bank accounts to commit tax evasion.

Another two banks – Banque Pasche SA and ARVEST Privatbank AG – have reached resolutions under the US Justice Department’s Swiss Bank Program. They will pay a $7.229 million and $1.044 million penalty respectively, and take the number of Swiss banks that have cut deals with the department so far this year to 17 (source: WSJ).

“Banque Pasche and ARVEST have provided detailed information regarding the ways in which Swiss banks helped US taxpayers conceal foreign accounts and evade their US tax obligations, including through the use of numbered and coded accounts and sham offshore entities,” said acting assistant attorney general Caroline Ciraolo of the DoJ's tax division. “As required under the program, these banks will continue to cooperate as we aggressively pursue those individuals and the professionals who facilitated their criminal conduct.”

The Swiss Bank Program, unveiled in August 2013, provides a path for Swiss banks to resolve potential criminal liabilities in the US. At the end of June 2015, the roster of Swiss banks coming forward under the program increased further when Ersparniskasse Schaffhausen signed a non-prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a penalty of $2.066 million. Other Swiss financial institutions reaching non-prosecution agreements include Bank Linth, a subsidiary of Liechtensteinische Landesbank, Switzerland-based Rothschild Bank, Banca Credinvest, Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse) and Berner Kantonalbank.

Banque Pasche is headquartered in Geneva and owns and controls a group of companies in various jurisdictions including Monaco and the Bahamas. From at least August 2008 to August 2013, it assisted certain US taxpayers in evading their US taxes and filing obligations, filing false income tax returns with the IRS and hiding offshore assets from the IRS, the DoJ said.

ARVEST Privatbank was a private bank headquartered in Pfaffikon that provided portfolio management and related private banking services primarily to high net worth clients. On April 15, 2015, it ceased being a licensed Swiss bank.

ARVEST opened, maintained and serviced accounts for US persons that it knew or had reason to know were likely not declared to the IRS or the US Department of the Treasury, the DoJ said. “The bank helped clients set up entities, including trusts and foundations, in Liechtenstein, St Kitts and other jurisdictions, with bank representatives serving as officers of certain of these entities, and opened ARVEST accounts in the names of these entities.”

“Today’s agreements are significant both individually and in conjunction with the previous Swiss Bank Program agreements,” said Richard Weber of the IRS' criminal investigation unit. “Individually, each bank agreement provides additional information to the IRS to assist us in going after illegally concealed offshore accounts and the financial professionals who helped US taxpayers hide assets abroad.”