The Swiss units of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley have agreed with U.S. authorities to hand over potentially incriminating details about how they might have helped Americans evade taxes, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In return, the two banks won't face prosecution in the U.S., though they could be hit with financial penalties equal to as much as 50 percent of the value of the undeclared U.S. accounts they've handled. Banks in this part of the program, dubbed category 2, agree to comb through their books and compile information about how they set up Swiss accounts for U.S. clients. That information, including how much was contained in the accounts, must be reviewed by an independent examiner.
