You may be reading about the lavish over the top party Leonardo DiCaprio threw in St. Tropez this week. Lots of stars came, and Leo made a big deal about donating millions to environmental causes– even though his Foundation does not file any paperwork and has no transparency.
But wait‚Äì the sponsor of the night was Swiss banking firm Julius Baer. They’re very private and handle only very discreet, exclusive customers.
In February of this year, Julius Baer was fined $547 million by the Department of Justice--” charged with conspiring with many of its U.S. taxpayer-clients and others to help U.S. taxpayers hide billions of dollars in offshore accounts from the United States Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) and to evade U.S. taxes on the income earned in those accounts.”
It’s not enough that DiCaprio is already involved in the federal investigation into the financing of his movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” by Red Granite Productions, a Malaysian film company up to its eyeballs in trouble. Or that two of Leo’s former BFF’s‚Äì the late Dana Giacchetto and art dealer — spent time in federal prison for fraud and racketeering.
No, no. Julius Baer’s prosecution by the United States Attorney General is fascinating. Two of Julius Baer’s bankers Daniela Cadadei and Fabio Frazzetto, pleaded guilty to “conspiring with U.S. taxpayer-clients and others to help U.S. taxpayers hide their assets in offshore accounts and to evade U.S. taxes on the income earned in those accounts.”
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement: “Bank Julius Baer not only turned a blind eye to tax avoiders, but actually conspired with them to break the law. Together with our partners at the IRS, we will continue to prosecute financial institutions and individuals who facilitate tax evasion.”
But Leo is seen in hand out photos from the event this week with Bono and other celebrities who probably have no idea what Julius Baer is or what they’ve done against the law.
