If you have money offshore in a bank in Switzerland, Israel, the Caribbean, Singapore or other countries, your banker and bank may soon be under investigation, if they are not already. The U.S. government is cracking down on tax evasion and they are going after banks and financial professionals with the hope that criminal prosecutions will convince these institutions to turn over customer data. So far, the strategy seems to be working.

Many U.S. investors have placed their trust in Swiss banks and bankers to maintain the strict secrecy standards that helped the banking industry in Switzerland to grow.  In Switzerland, tax evasion is not a criminal act (although tax fraud and money laundering are illegal).  Furthermore, the law and longstanding traditions make it a crime for Swiss bankers to disclose client names.