So much for "honorable" bankers eh? 

Oh, the allegation is that this is not a "rogue employee" thing either - it was a widespread effort by UBS to flout United States tax laws.

Now now, we know that nobody would do anything like that, right?

How do these guys manage to keep their US banking charter?

More to the point, however, is that 20,000 Rich Americans have to be crapping in their pants about right now.  About all they can do is get on their horn with their lawyers and negotiate a surrender and payment - plus interest and penalties - with the IRS.  That's no guarantee they won't get indicted either, but it reduces their risk.

Trying to "go silent" is unlikely to work, as banks keep records.

This kind of thing pisses me off.  I pay my taxes every year, on time.  I don't like it but its the price of being an American.  Putting diamonds in a toothpaste tube (one of the allegations in the article above) as a means of moving money around without the government finding out about it is just plain wrong.

Then there's the Bear Hedgie Indictment.

Who ought to be crapping in their pants over this one? 

Every Wall Street Bank executive, that's who.

Why? Because what is alleged in that indictment is exactly the sort of crap that every Street Bank has been running for the last three to six months, claiming that the markets were ok, that they didn't need to raise capital, and on and on and on - and those statements turned out to be lies:

"Convictions will depend on showing that the managers "were communicating to the public they were in possession of information that conclusively demonstrates that their statements were false and that they would've known that," said Michael McGovern, a former prosecutor and partner at the New York law firm Ropes & Gray LLC."

You mean like all the lying we've seen over the last four months about "kitchen sink" quarters, not needing to raise capital and having no intention of doing so (followed three days later by doing exactly that), and quarterly results that, when the 10Q is filed, don't match the earnings release or conference call?

Yeah, that sort of lying, I'd think.

Or how about what BB&T said yesterday?

"The market extended its gains after regional bank BB&T Corp. said it expects to increase its dividend this year, countering speculation it will slash the payout."

Expects?  Based on what?  Plenty of capital to pay dividends with?  If they don't have it, should their execs be indicted?  I think so, unless they can show that there was a genuine path and means available today to do so that was thwarted by unforeseen market conditions.

If the recession doesn't lift, for example, that's not "unforeseen".  And what's "some increase"?  One penny?

This bit of mouth-moving was apparently the bank's reaction to an analyst note yesterday in which it was noted that they might even require recapitalization.

Quite the catfight there.....