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Christoph Meili
Michel Christopher "Christoph" Meili (born 21 April 1968) is a Swiss-American whistleblower and former security professional. In 1997, Meili illegally disclosed to third parties that Swiss bank Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) was destroying documentation of Holocaust-era assets. After a federal arrest warrant, a set of fines, and death threats were issued to him, Meili fled Switzerland to the United States by right of asylum in late 1997, returning to his home country in 2009. His disclosure prompted a US$1.25 billion settlement between multiple Swiss banks and Jewish victims in August 1998. Meili was entitled to $750,000 of the settlement. He returned to Switzerland having spent all his settlement money and to mixed reception by Swiss papers. Union Bank of Switzerland In early 1997, Meili was working as a night guard at the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in Zürich. He discovered that officials at UBS were destroying documents about orphaned assets, believed to be credit ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chapman University
Chapman University is a private research university in Orange, California. It encompasses ten schools and colleges, including Fowler School of Engineering, Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, Fowler School of Law, and Schmid College of Science and Technology, and is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". Although it does not claim to be a Christian college, it has had a relationship with the Disciples of Christ since the university's founding and with the United Church of Christ since 2011. History Founded in Woodland, California, as Hesperian College, the school began classes on March 4, 1861. Its opening was timed to coincide with the hour of Abraham Lincoln's first inauguration. Hesperian admitted students regardless of sex or race. In 1920, the assets of Hesperian College were absorbed by California Christian College, which held classes in downtown Los Angeles. In 1934, the school was renamed Chapman College, after the chairman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Banking In Switzerland
Banking in Switzerland dates to the early eighteenth century through Switzerland's merchant trade and has, over the centuries, grown into a complex, regulated, and international industry. Banking is seen as emblematic of Switzerland, along with the Swiss Alps, Swiss chocolate, watchmaking and mountaineering. Switzerland has a long, kindred history of banking secrecy and client confidentiality reaching back to the early 1700s. Starting as a way to protect wealthy European banking interests, Swiss banking secrecy was codified in 1934 with the passage of the landmark federal law, the Federal Act on Banks and Savings Banks. These laws, which were used to protect assets of persons being persecuted by Nazi authorities, have also been used by people and institutions seeking to illegally evade taxes, hide assets, or generally commit financial crime. Controversial protection of foreign accounts and assets during World War II sparked a series of proposed financial regulations seekin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bank Secrecy
Banking secrecy, alternately known as financial privacy, banking discretion, or bank safety,Guex (2000), p. 240 is a conditional agreement between a bank and its clients that all foregoing activities remain secure, confidential, and private. Most often associated with banking in Switzerland, banking secrecy is prevalent in Luxembourg, Monaco, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, and Lebanon, among other off-shore banking institutions. Otherwise known as bank–client confidentiality or banker–client privilege, the practice was started by Italian merchants during the 1600s near Northern Italy (a region that would become the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland). Geneva bankers established secrecy socially and through civil law in the French-speaking region during the 1700s. Swiss banking secrecy was first codified with the Banking Act of 1934, thus making it a crime to disclose client information to third parties without a client's consent. The law, coupled with a stable Swiss ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holocaust Survivor
Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accepted definition of the term, and it has been applied variously to Jews who survived the war in German-occupied Europe or other Axis territories, as well as to those who fled to Allied and neutral countries before or during the war. In some cases, non-Jews who also experienced collective persecution under the Nazi regime are also considered Holocaust survivors. The definition has evolved over time. Survivors of the Holocaust include those persecuted civilians who were still alive in the concentration camps when they were liberated at the end of the war, or those who had either survived as partisans or been hidden with the assistance of non-Jews, or had escaped to territories beyond the control of the Nazis before the Final Solution was imp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escrow
An escrow is a contractual arrangement in which a third party (the stakeholder or escrow agent) receives and disburses money or property for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacting parties. Examples include an account established by a broker for holding funds on behalf of the broker's principal or some other person until the consummation or termination of a transaction; or, a trust account held in the borrower's name to pay obligations such as property taxes and insurance premiums. The word derives from the Old French word , meaning a scrap of paper or a scroll of parchment; this indicated the deed that a third party held until a transaction was completed. Types Escrow generally refers to money held by a third party on behalf of transacting parties. It is mostly used regarding the purchase of shares of a company. It is best known in the United States in the context of the real estate industry (specifically in mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
