The bank said net profit dropped 67 percent to 121.2 million francs ($119 million) last year.
The fall comes after the Zurich-based bank put aside a 547.25-million-dollar provision to cover a fine it faces following the US
criminal investigation.
Authorities around the world have been clamping down on tax evasion in the wake of the global financial crisis.
Chief executive Boris Collardi said in a statement that the bank expected it would “soon be able to complete the court process and announce the final resolution” following the final approval of the settlement.
Julius Bär was among around a dozen Swiss banks placed under criminal investigation by the US Justice Department, including the country's second largest bank Credit Suisse, which was slapped with a $2.8-billion fine.
Without the US provision, Julius Bär said profits would have grown last year by a fifth to just over 700 million francs.
JULIUS BÄR
Costly US fine slashes Julius Bär profits
Swiss private bank Julius Bär said on Monday that its net profit plummeted in 2015 due to a provision linked to a US probe into the bank's role in helping Americans evade taxes.
MONEY LAUNDERING
Swiss bank exec pleads guilty in $1.2 bn Venezuelan laundering scam
A former Swiss bank manager pleaded guilty in a US court on Wednesday for his role in a $1.2 billion money laundering scheme involving Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, the Justice Department announced.
Matthias Krull, 44, a German national and Panamanian resident, was one of a ring of conspirators and he admitted the scam began in late 2014 with “a currency exchange scheme that was designed to embezzle around $600 million from PDVSA,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
Former Swiss Bank Executive Pleads Guilty to Role in Billion-Dollar International Money Laundering Scheme Involving Funds Embezzled from Venezuelan State-Owned Oil Company https://t.co/nNX7uP6u7p
— Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) August 22, 2018
PDVSA was the crown jewel of Venezuela's imploding economy and remains virtually the only source of hard currency for the embattled government. But it also has made the company a target of theft and graft.
The Justice Department said the stolen fund were “obtained through bribery and fraud.”
The conspiracy in 201 doubled to $1.2 billion in funds embezzled from PDVSA. Krull, at the time a banker with Switzerland's Julius Bär private bank, became involved in 2016 when another member of the ring asked him to help launder the proceeds.
They used Florida real estate and “sophisticated false-investment schemes to conceal that the $1.2 billion was in fact embezzled from PDVSA,” the statement said.
He pleaded guilty in a Florida court to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced October 29th.
Krull's co-conspirators “include former PDVSA officials, professional third-party money launderers, and members of the Venezuelan elite, sometimes known as 'boliburgues.'”
US authorities arrested Krull in Miami last month, while Gustavo Hernandez Frieri, a Colombian, was arrested in Italy and is awaiting extradition.
The Venezuelans indicted in the case are Francisco Convit, shareholder of energy company Derwick Associates; Carmelo Urdaneta, former petroleum and mining ministry legal advisor; Abraham Ortega, ex-PDVSA staffer; and Jose Vicente “Chente” Amparan, a businessman and “professional money launderer” with links to Spain and Malta.
Venezuela's economic freefall continues, with hyperinflation expected to soar to one million percent, according to the International Monetary Fund.
On Tuesday, President Nicolas Maduro introduced a new currency, dropping five zeros and devaluing the “sovereign bolivars” by 96 percent.
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