Region: Israel

Israeli pharmaceuticals company Teva has discovered likely FCPA violations during an internal investigation, according to reports citing a company SEC filing. In 2012, the company opened an investigation after the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice sent subpoenas.

12 February 2015

Lawyers for Bank of China are attempting to overturn a judge’s order to hand over internal investigation documents after he ruled that the material failed to be protected by US work-product doctrine.

05 February 2015

Bank Leumi has asked Israeli tax authorities to recognise a US$400 million US tax evasion fine as a tax-deductible expense, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports. If successful, the bank could reduce its 2014 tax liability by between 250 million shekels (US$63.

30 January 2015

Shareholders of Israel’s Bank Leumi are planning a class action over the bank’s 2012 announcement that it was allocating funds towards a possible US tax evasion settlement.

26 January 2015

Israel’s attorney general is to examine Bank Leumi’s tax dealings following the bank’s US$400 million settlement with US authorities for helping US nationals prepare false tax returns.

08 January 2015

As 2014 drew to a close, Israeli financial institution Bank Leumi managed to wrap up its long-running negotiations with US authorities, agreeing to pay US$400 million for helping US nationals prepare false tax returns.

05 January 2015

Israeli bank Leumi may have to pay US$355 million to settle tax evasion charges brought by US authorities, according to reports. On Wednesday, Leumi’s chief legal advisor Hana Friedman reportedly told Israel’s parliamentary economics committee that the bank expects to pay the settlement by mid-January.

11 December 2014

Israel-based Bank Leumi is reportedly nearing a US$400 million settlement with several US authorities over allegedly helping Americans evade taxes. While higher than the initial US$300 million settlement offer by the New York Department of Financial Services (DFS) that the bank “utterly rejected” in late October, Bloomberg reports that the new settlement would see the bank pay US$270 million to the US Department of Justice, and US$130 million to the DFS.

27 November 2014

Israel has arrested 14 people, including a senior UBS tax adviser, as part of a tax evasion probe, according to Reuters. The Israeli Tax Authority said on 5 November that it is investigating Israeli citizens who allegedly channelled hundreds of millions of euros into undisclosed UBS accounts.

06 November 2014

Counsel to Israel-based Bank Leumi has rejected a US$300 million settlement request from New York’s Department of Financial Services.

30 October 2014