IRS Continues Mining the Gold from Voluntary Disclosures, and Picks Off a Liechtenstein Bank (9/10/11)

Lynnley Browning for Reuters reports today that USAO SDNY "are building a criminal-fraud case against Liechtenstein's oldest bank, Liechtensteinische Landesbank,"  Lynnley Browning, U.S. Probing Liechtenstein Bank Over Allegedly Helping Wealthy Tax Dodgers, (Huffington Post Reuters Report 9/9/11), here.

According to the article:

American officials learned of Liechtensteinische Landesbank's identity and alleged role through scores of voluntary disclosures made by `wealthy Americans in recent years to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The disclosures, which offer reduced fines and penalties in exchange for coming forward with secret offshore accounts, require U.S. taxpayers to provide detailed information about the network of banks, trusts, shell corporations and intermediaries they have used.

It has been clear for some time that the Government was picking up egregious enablers through the disclosures made in the special offshore voluntary disclosure programs.  The same database of information will produce the names and skullduggery of the egregrious financial institutions in this game as well.

In a similar vein, the Wall Street Journal reports today the the "golden age of offshore tax havens may be fading out." Robert Frank, 'Gold Mine' of Data Helps Officials Clamp Down on Offshore Tax Havens (WSJ 9/10/11), here. The Gold Mine is, of course, the data mentioned in the Browning article. Here are some excerpts:

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