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Swiss Bank Secrecy And United States Efforts To Obtain Information From Swiss Banks, Elliot A. Stultz

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The United States has utilized numerous techniques to penetrate bank secrecy, with varying degrees of success. The United States and Switzerland have signed several agreements relating to bank secrecy and its role in United States criminal investigations. These efforts have allowed United States authorities to obtain normally privileged information in numerous investigations over the past ten years, although some confusion as to what information is available still exists today.

Two recent events have expanded the scope of information available to United States investigators and alleviated some of the confusion. In November 1987 the United States and Switzerland exchanged a Memorandum …