Swiss bankers land in hot water

It sounds so completely suave, in a James Bond-playing-baccarat kind of way. "Send the winnings to my Swiss bank account."

Turns out, you really can stash cash in numbered, secret Swiss bank accounts. But, as it also turns out, doing so is sometimes illegal.

Four Swiss bankers were recently charged with helping American taxpayers skip paying U.S. taxes. I thought that was a selling point of Swiss bank accounts, but not so.

The bankers allegedly set up thousands of secret accounts with as much as $3 billion in total assets. IRS officials said the conspiracy dates back to 1953 and involved two generations of U.S. tax-evaders, including people who inherited their secret accounts from parents.

The scheme catered to rich folks -- surprise. The bankers even traveled to the United States to recruit. According to the federal indictment out of Virginia, they also provided unlicensed and unregistered banking services and investment advice to their customers.

Those customers also traveled overseas -- to Switzerland and the Bahamas -- to carry out their secret banking.

After the bank decided to close the secret accounts, officials say, the defendants helped customers transfer their cash to other banks in Switzerland and Hong Kong to hide their assets.

According to the website World Law Direct, Swiss accounts are legal, but they're not easy to open and require an initial deposit of at least $100,000. They also cost about $300 per year to maintain, World Law says.

Such accounts are valued for their secrecy. Swiss law makes it a crime for a banker to divulge information about a customer's account. New rules within the past 10 years allow U.S. law enforcement officials to take a peek.

See, while Swiss accounts are good for stashing cash from others who may want to get their mitts on it -- through lawsuits or divorces -- you can't hide it from Uncle Sam.