YEREVAN, March 5. / ARKA /. Switzerland's oldest bank was ordered to pay a total of $74 million to the U.S. government in the first-ever criminal sentence for a foreign bank accused of violating U.S. tax laws, vestifinance.ru reported citing The wall Street Journal.

The penalty came after the bank, Wegelin & Co., pleaded guilty in January to criminal conspiracy charges, admitting it turned a blind eye to tax evasion allegedly committed by its hundreds of American customers. Wegelin, which didn't have branches or offices in the U.S., believed it wouldn't be prosecuted by U.S. law enforcement, according to court documents.

The order, issued by U.S. District Judge on Monday, effectively finalizes a plea agreement made between the bank and federal prosecutors in January.

Wegelin is the latest Swiss bank to fall prey to a broad U.S. crackdown on secret American bank accounts overseas. Wegelin, which was founded in 1741, is now essentially defunct and plans to close following the settlement of its legal issues. The plea agreement included a $22 million criminal fine, forfeiture of $15.8 million—representing the gross fees earned by the bank on the undeclared accounts of U.S. taxpayers—and a payment of $20 million, representing the amount of taxes avoided by its American account holders as a result of its conduct. The bank also agreed separately to forfeit $16.2 million to the government.

The Swiss banking secrecy remains one of the most secured. It is extremely difficult to reveal the identity and data of depositors. Under Swiss law non-payment of taxes is not the reason for exposing information on depositors. Only a proof of a serious criminal offense committed by a depositor may result in revelation or secret information by government services. By many estimates, one third of offshore money in the world is kept in Swiss banks. -0-