100 criminal investigations launched into UBS

The U.S. Justice Department has started investigating approximately 100 cases of wealthy American clients of the Swiss bank, UBS AG, reported New York Times, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The paper has also revealed that there were several accounts under scrutiny that had over $100 million in assets. The largest holding had over $150 million, added the paper.

The case goes back to February when UBS acknowledged responsibility for helping U.S. clients hide assets from the U.S. government. The acknowledgement was followed by an announcement that the bank was ready to pay a fine of $780 million, and to identify some U.S. clients. 

However, U.S. authorities have decided to file a civil lawsuit against UBS, due to fears that only few names instead of tens of thousands would be disclosed. 

UBS, in return, argued that the information being requested by the United States was protected by Swiss financial privacy laws.