Wegelin's Fall to Tax-Haven Poster Child

In the span of just one year, Wegelin & Co. went from being one of the most prestigious banks in Switzerland to the verge of being sentenced on U.S. criminal charges and becoming essentially defunct.

On Monday, it is expected to become the first foreign bank to be criminally sentenced in the U.S. for tax violations, according to court documents.

That rapid demise is a lesson in how quickly the rules have changed in global banking, and an illustration of the U.S. Justice Department's increasing reach.

According to the criminal indictment against Wegelin in February 2012, the bank believed it ...

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