The bank's long-awaited appeal of a 2019 conviction is over. It will have to wait longer than anticipated for the final verdict.
UBS two-week long appeal to a $5 billion guilty verdict two years ago did not end in a «aha» moment to reverse its fortunes: French prosecutors countered the Zurich-based wealth manager's intricately prepared arguments including a European tax accord and its claims to have only used lavish events like Roland Garros or hunting expeditions for marketing purposes.
Fine Still Unpalatable
Paris prosecutors maintain UBS abetted tax dodgers but also laundered funds and broke the law by acquiring clients on French soil. They are asking a judge to levy a fine of at least 2 billion euros ($2.4 billion), while the French government also wants reparations of another 1 billion euros.
In sum that's far less than the 4.5 billion euros, it was ordered to pony up in February of 2019 when its first criminal trial ended in a conviction. However, 3.4 billion euros in total is still unlikely to be palatable to UBS, which has spent years exploring every avenue of appeal to avoid, settle, or overturn the charges. It has reserved a paltry 450 million euros for the case.
Long Wait For Certainty
The Swiss bank will have to wait longer than anticipated for the final verdict, which represents the biggest lingering issue from its past. The Paris court will hand down a judgment on the case late in September after an initial ruling on constitutional matters related to the case in July, «Reuters» reported on Wednesday.
It isn't clear whether the court will take into account a precedent-setting French ruling in a separate 2019 case that calculates penalties according to taxes withheld, and not on total incriminating funds. This would considerably lessen the financial blow of the penalty for UBS from the initial judicial go-around.
