In brief: Swiss-tied banker gets prison term
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – A former banker described by prosecutors as the man most responsible for sparking a broad U.S. investigation into rich Americans’ use of secret Swiss bank accounts to evade taxes was sentenced Friday to more than three years in federal prison.
Prosecutors gave Bradley Birkenfeld, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen, credit for voluntarily disclosing illegal tactics by Swiss banking giant UBS AG and others.
But they said Birkenfeld initially refused to confess his own misconduct and hoped to collect a cash reward under U.S. whistleblower laws.
Lowe’s settles harassment case
Seattle – Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse Inc. has agreed to pay $1.7 million to settle a sexual harassment case brought by three employees in Longview, including one who said she was sexually assaulted in 2006.
Under the three-year consent decree signed Thursday by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, Lowe’s also must revise policies on discrimination, harassment and retaliation; provide training on those concerns to employees at its 37 stores in Washington state and 13 stores in Oregon; and report regularly to the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, which filed the lawsuit.
Lowe’s denied the claims of the three workers and did not admit any liability but settled “in the interest of avoiding additional disruption and litigation costs,” according to a company statement.
Austin-based bank is 81st failure
Washington – Regulators on Friday shut down Guaranty Financial Group Inc., a big lender felled by losses on loans to homebuilders and borrowers, in the second-largest U.S. bank failure this year.
It marked the 81st failure of a U.S. bank in 2009, the most in a year since 1992, during the savings-and-loan crisis.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of Guaranty Financial, based in Austin, Texas. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Spain’s second-largest bank, agreed to buy all the bank’s deposits and $12 billion of the assets. It was the first foreign bank to buy a failed U.S. bank.
Harley-Davidson mulls four sites
New York – Harley-Davidson Inc. is considering sites in four states for a possible relocation of its main motorcycle plant in Pennsylvania, a company spokesman said Friday.
Company and union officials toured locations in Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Shelbyville, Ind.; Shelbyville, Ky.; and Kansas City, Mo., over the last week as the company assesses a possible move.
Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson announced in May it was exploring a relocation of its motorcycle assembly facility in York, Pa., which employs 2,300 people.