Record fine for Swiss bank UBS in France: more than 4 billion US dollars to pay

According to the indictment, UBS hashe advised wealthy French clients to open accounts in Switzerland to pay less taxes and be covered by bank secrecy in this country.

The fine is the heaviest in the country for this type of crime.

UBS must also pay 800,000 euros to the French state, which acted as a private charge and claimed double.

The Swiss bank had already been sentenced in other countries for similar acts, but with lighter sentences: US $ 780 million in the United States in 2009 and 300 million euros in Germany in 2014.

UBS claimed in its defense that it acted in accordance with Swiss law and that it could not know whether the customers were up to date with the French Treasury.

The trial began late last year after seven years of investigations that began when a former employee reported alleged illegalities.

The start of the investigation coincided with an offensive by the European authorities against tax evasion and certain banking practices after the 2008 global financial crisis.

The pressure has led Switzerland to renounce its banking secrecy and join the more than 90 countries that have agreed to automatically share their bank details.

In the case of UBS, the French authorities determined that the bank had hidden more than 10 000 million euros to control cash between 2004 and 2012.

The financial prosecutor said that the bank and its directors "They were perfectly aware that they were breaking French law" search for customers and help them escape taxes.