Deutsche Bank, the German
financial giant, agreed to pay
fines totalling $554m in order to
avoid prosecution in the US over
tax shelter advice it gave to
wealthy investors.
The payment is the latest in the
US authorities' investigation into
tax-shelter products, originally
designed by the accounting firm
KPMG, which were sold to
wealthy Americans around the
beginning of the last decade.
Deutsche Bank signed the non-
prosecution agreement
yesterday, promising to pay back
all the fees it made from the
products, which it provided to
2,100 clients, according to the
criminal complaint. It will also
pay interest and compensation
for tax revenue lost, plus a civil
penalty of $149m. It admitted
criminal wrongdoing, and
promised not to sell any kind of
pre-packaged tax-shelter plans
again.
The bank said it had already
made provision for the amount
of the fine, and said it was
"pleased that this investigation,
which concerned transactions
that ceased more than eight
years ago, has come to a
resolution".
US prosecutors secured criminal
prosecutions in three cases,
including against two KPMG
officers, and the accounting firm
itself agreed a non-prosecution
deal and paid $456m in fines.
Swiss bank UBS paid $780m.
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