ACFCS on 14th September reported that US federal authorities secured a guilty plea involving Adrian Baron, the former Chief Business Officer and former CEO of Loyal Bank Ltd, an offshore bank with offices in Budapest, Hungary and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for failing to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Baron was extradited to the US from Hungary in July 2018. An undercover agent informed Baron that he did not want to appear on any of the account opening documents for his bank accounts at Loyal Bank, even though he would be the true owner of the accounts and Baron responded that Loyal Bank could open such accounts and provide debit cards linked to them. The agent also said he wanted to circumvent the IRS’s reporting requirements under FATCA, and Baron stated that Loyal Bank would not submit a FATCA declaration to regulators unless the paperwork indicated “obvious” US involvement.
