Top Firms Said To Be 'Burning' Their Own Employees in Order To Cut Deals With Lawmakers

Banks are turning over thousands of employee names to U.S. authorities as they seek leniency for their alleged role in helping American clients evade taxes, according to lawyers representing banking staff.

Bloomberg reports that at least five banks supplied e-mails and telephone records containing as many as 10,000 names to the U.S. Department of Justice, according to estimates by Douglas Hornung, a Geneva-based lawyer representing 40 current and former employees of HSBC’s Swiss unit, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer. The data handover is illegal, said Alec Reymond, a former president of the Geneva Bar Association, who is representing two Credit Suisse staff.

'The banks are burning their own people to try and cut deals with the DoJ', said Hornung. 'This violation of personal privacy is unprecedented in the Swiss banking industry'.

Swiss banks want to settle a U.S. tax-evasion probe after the DoJ indicted Wegelin & Co. on February 2nd for allegedly helping customers hide money from the Internal Revenue Service. Credit Suisse, HSBC and Julius Baer, which have said they expect to pay fines to resolve the tax matter, are handing over data to mollify the U.S., according to Hornung.

Credit Suisse said the Swiss government authorized the delivery of staff names and that the 'large majority' of employees have nothing to fear. Julius Baer and Zuercher Kantonalbank also said they received authorization. HSBC said it has delivered documents and is cooperating with the U.S.

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HSBC, Credit Suisse Sacrifice Staff to Placate U.S., Lawyers Say