Tough U.S. judge set to preside in UBS tax case

MIAMI (Reuters) - The judge presiding over a high-stakes legal showdown between the U.S. government and Swiss bank UBS AG is seen as a straight-shooter who has not shied away from taking aim at big corporate interests.

Some see Judge Alan Gold of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida emerging as an international mediator as he deals with issues loaded with important foreign policy and financial ramifications, led by U.S. demands for a lifting of Switzerland's treasured bank secrecy laws.

But U.S. attorneys and prosecutors who know him say Gold, a 65-year-old native New Yorker, will studiously avoid doing anything inconsistent with his role as a judge as he handles his biggest and most publicized case since he came to the federal bench in Miami nearly 13 years ago.

"He's about as straight-shooter as they come," said Charles Intriago, a former U.S. federal prosecutor and money laundering expert, who publishes a website for law enforcement officials about asset forfeiture.

"He's the perfect judge for this," he added, referring to the hearing Gold is set to preside over Monday in a suit in which the Justice Department is seeking to force UBS to disclose information on 52,000 secret accounts suspected of being used by wealthy Americans to avoid paying their taxes.

There is little in Gold's record to indicate how he might rule in the case, which experts say could set an important legal precedent since it marks the biggest test ever of Swiss bank secrecy.

Gold grabbed the media spotlight in a business law case once before, when he presided over a class-action lawsuit against Exxon Corp that resulted in a settlement costing more than $1 billion.

Gold surprised some observers of the closely watched UBS case on Wednesday by ordering the Justice Department to say whether it was prepared to seize the U.S. assets of UBS as part of its battle to get the bank to disclose client information.

NOT TIPPING HIS HAND

Gold said such a remedy might be requested of the court if UBS failed to comply or was prevented from complying by the Swiss government.

His order came just a few hours after the Swiss Justice Ministry said Swiss law prevents UBS from handing over client information and the government would seize UBS client data, if necessary, to stop that happening.

The judge's order was widely seen as pressing for a last-minute, out-of-court settlement of the case, since analysts do not expect Washington to take the radical step of closing down UBS in the United States, risking potentially damaging consequences for the global financial system.

But others say Gold was simply doing his job, laying the groundwork for Monday's hearing and effectively telling the U.S. government that it was time to have its bluff called after months of public posturing.

"That's what's going on here, the government is either going to have to put up or shut up," said Evan Stewart, a partner with Zuckerman Spaeder law firm in New York.

"All the judge has done is what a smart and prudent person in that circumstance would do," Stewart added. "That doesn't signal anything about the judge's own predilections here."

Swiss criminal law prohibits banks from passing on client information to foreign authorities. But UBS and Switzerland have already made some concessions on bank secrecy, and Intriago said Gold was unlikely to buy into the argument that the client information demanded by the Justice Department was untouchable.

"The convenient excuse of 'Oh jeez, the Swiss laws prevent me from complying. I don't want to violate the laws of our domicile country' (is) baloney," Intriago said.

"It's almost like saying, you know, 'The devil made me do it' or 'I can't come straight with you because I'm obligated by a force I cannot control.'"

Frank Rubino, a veteran Miami defense attorney who has argued numerous cases in Gold's courtroom, said "he suffers no fools at all" and the lawyers better be well prepared.

"The guy's as straight as an arrow," Rubino said. "He runs his courtroom like a businessman."

(Editing by Steve Orlofsky)