Bank Hapoalim, Israel’s largest bank, and its Swiss subsidiary will pay a total of $904 million to state and federal authorities in separate settlements announced on the same day. One case relates to the bank’s role in a massive tax-evasion scheme, while the other concerns its role in a money-laundering conspiracy with soccer federation FIFA.
On Thursday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Bank Hapoalim B.M. (BHBM) and Bank Hapoalim Switzerland (BHS) pleaded guilty for conspiring with U.S. taxpayers and others to hide more than $7.6 billion in more than 5,500 secret Swiss and Israeli bank accounts, as well as the income generated in these accounts from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The total penalty associated with the misconduct approached $875 million.
