The White House is attempting to jettison Robert Wolf, chief executive of UBS America, from its announced economic advisory board, after Wolf’s bank agreed to pay $780 million in fines and to disclose hundreds of U.S. clients who attempted to dodge U.S. taxes. The case does not close out a civil suit against the bank that seeks the names of thousands of other U.S. citizens who may be hiding as much as $15 billion in secret Swiss bank accounts.
Wolf’s employees were part of the criminal case, and senior staff in the Obama White House have been looking to dump Wolf since Obama personally included him on the board.
“He was one of the President’s top fundraisers on Wall Street, which means a lot given that Hillary had a lot more money lined up there,” says one former Obama fundraiser. “Wolf was there from the beginning, when others were not. It’s going to be tough to push him out the door.”
But White House aides have been pushing nonetheless, arguing that at a time when Obama is asking most Americans to sacrifice, it looks bad to have a guy whose firm facilitated tax dodging advising him on economic policy.
But Obama has refused to remove Wolf or even ask for his resignation.
