UBS spent years in the crosshairs of America's justice system. A former broker of the Swiss bank is nominated as the top U.S. diplomatic representative to Switzerland.
U.S. President Joe Biden is nominating Scott Miller as ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, according to a press release. Miller, a Denver-based philanthropist, donor, and activist, will replace Ed McMullen in the Bern job if he is confirmed.
The nomination, like most, is politically motivated: Miller and his husband, Quark founder Tim Gill, are mega-donors to the LGBTQ movement. They have poured nearly $500 million into the push for equal rights since the 1980s, according to «Rolling Stone» magazine. Ironically, Miller is a former UBS wealth manager in Denver, a job he gave up in 2014 in favor of working for Gill's foundation.
Finance-Political Ties
UBS is back in the good graces of U.S. prosecutors, more than 12 years after a landmark $780 tax evasion settlement in which it agreed to identify some clients. The pact paved the way for other Swiss banks to clinch similar deals in criminal proceedings, like Credit Suisse's $2.5 billion deal in 2014. This eventually led to a government-brokered scheme for the wider Swiss private banking industry.
Miller, who must absolve Senate confirmation hearings before heading for Bern, isn't the first banker-turned-ambassador. Long-standing Credit Suisse banker David Mulford spent five years as the U.S.' top diplomatic representative in India before returning to the Swiss bank, where he stayed until 2016.
