NEW YORK (Reuters) – Swiss Life Holding AG agreed to pay $77.4 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement in the United States to resolve accusations it conspired to help wealthy Americans evade taxes.
The three-year agreement announced on Friday relates to Swiss Life’s insurance wrapper business, a type of life insurance policy in which taxpayers can place stocks, private equity holdings and other assets.
Some regulators have expressed concern that taxpayers can use the wrappers for tax avoidance.
Swiss Life will pay a $25.3 million fine plus $52.1 million in restitution and forfeiture to resolve a charge it conspired to defraud the U.S. Internal Revenue Service through its private placement life insurance business.
The company’s general counsel accepted the agreement at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Gregory Woods in Manhattan.
Swiss Life has said it set aside sufficient funds in 2020 to cover the settlement.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Franklin Paul and Bill Berkrot)
