When UBS AG came under fire in 2008 for allegedly helping Americans dodge $20 billion in taxes, Aaron Marcu figured that his client, former UBS wealth management chief Raoul Weil, would be roped in as a witness. Instead, the U.S. Justice Department ignited a full-blown Swiss banking crisis by criminally charging Weil—then the bank’s third-ranking executive—and accusing him of taking part in a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.

Fast-forward six years. UBS has long since settled its own U.S. criminal tax case, for $780 million. Switzerland pierced its vaunted secrecy protections and began revealing the identities of suspected American tax cheats. And Weil? He’s a free man, after Marcu and cocounsel Matthew Menchel pulled off a stunning defense victory in a Florida federal courtroom on Monday.

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