U.S. Tax-Evasion Probes Said to Slow as Prosecutors Transfer

By David Voreacos - Tue Mar 27 04:00:01 GMT 2012

The transfers came amid criminal probes of at least 11 Swiss financial institutions, including Credit Suisse Group AG, with the tax division leading or assisting each prosecution.

The transfers came amid criminal probes of at least 11 Swiss financial institutions, including Credit Suisse Group AG, with the tax division leading or assisting each prosecution. Photographer: Gianluca Colla/Bloomberg

The U.S. Justice Department has lost almost 30 percent of its tax prosecutors in the past month, slowing a U.S. crackdown on offshore banks that enabled tax evasion, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Twenty-five of the 95 prosecutors in the tax division left headquarters in Washington for six-month details with U.S. attorneys around the country, and another three took permanent assignments, according to the four people, who declined to be identified because they arent authorized to speak publicly.

Many of the lawyers handled cases involving foreign banks or financial advisers suspected of helping U.S. clients cheat on taxes, the people said. The transfers came amid criminal probes of at least 11 Swiss financial institutions, including Credit Suisse (CSGN) Group AG, with the tax division leading or assisting each prosecution.

To move one-third of these people from that effort will significantly compromise such enforcement at the very time it is needed to deal with the huge amounts of offshore cases coming to the tax division, said Nathan Hochman, a former assistant attorney general who oversaw the tax division under President George W. Bush.

The prosecutors have significant experience, training and knowledge when it comes to the enforcement of tax laws pertaining to overseas accounts, said Hochman, now a partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP in Santa Monica, California.

The division also investigates identify theft, illegal tax shelters and other crimes, while approving every tax case filed by the 94 presidentially appointed U.S. attorneys serving the Justice Department around the country.

Offshore non-compliance by U.S. taxpayers remains a top priority for the Justice Departments Tax Division, said Charles Miller, a Justice Department spokesman. We will continue to pursue those cases vigorously.

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U.S. Tax-Evasion Probes Said to Slow as Prosecutors Transfer

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