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Photo: Reuters
US: 3 Bank Leumi customers suspected of tax evasion
Three US nationals suspected of using bank's Los Angeles and Tel Aviv branches for tax evasion, money laundering purposes
Three US nationals are suspected of tax evasion and money laundering using a Bank Leumi
branch in Los Angeles, Channel 10 New reported. The funds that the suspects allegedly deposited in California were then withdrawn at the bank's central branch in Tel Aviv.
The federal authorities in the US questioned the bank's management over the case; LA branch director Dan Meiri was summoned to testify as well, and later resigned.
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Leumi Bank's financial report for 2011 mentioned the incident briefly, noting that the company is cooperating with the investigation.
"At this point, it is impossible to foresee the outcomes and the implications of the investigation; it also impossible to reliably estimate the damage done to the banking group," according to the document.
It was recently reported that the Securities Authority has launched an extensive probe into the suspicion that Leumi Finance Company Ltd., a Bank Leumi affiliate, had issued bonds in an attempt to raise funds from the public days before releasing its profit warning in November.
As per the warning, preliminary estimates indicated that Bank Leumi's bottom line for the third quarter of 2011 was to be much lower than in the two previous quarters, totaling between NIS 50-100 million ($13-27 million).
According the bank, its profits were dragged down by the lagging performance on TASE.
