Bloomberg/Tel Aviv

Bank Leumi Le Israel BM is close to a $400mn settlement of federal and state investigations into whether it helped Americans evade taxes, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
Under the proposed accord, Bank Leumi would pay about $270mn to the Justice Department and $130mn to New York’s Department of Financial Services, said the person, who asked not to be identified.
The proposed amount has declined in recent weeks. DFS chief Benjamin Lawsky dropped his request to $130mn from $300mn after it became clear that most of the conduct at issue took place in Los Angeles, where he doesn’t have jurisdiction, the person said.
Bank spokesman Lee Neumann said no settlement has been reached and the amount is still being discussed.
Bank Leumi said November 24 in its earnings statement it’s set aside an additional 476mn shekels in the third quarter for the US settlements for a total of about 1.5bn shekels ($388.39mn).
The bank’s provisions reflect its legal team’s most recent estimates of what it will need to pay, said Neumann, who didn’t rule out setting aside additional funds.
Caitlin Ferrell, a DFS spokeswoman, and Nicole Navas, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, declined to comment on the proposed settlement.
The scrutiny of Bank Leumi, which is based in Tel Aviv, is part of a seven-year US crackdown on offshore tax evasion that has predominantly focused on Switzerland. About 100 Swiss banks are seeking to avoid prosecution by disclosing how they helped Americans dodge taxes.
Credit Suisse Group’s main bank subsidiary pleaded guilty in May to charges of helping Americans cheat on their taxes and agreed to pay $2.6bn to resolve the charges. Of the total settlement, $715mn went to Lawsky’s office.





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