Academy Award-winning actress Emma Thompson and her husband, Greg Wise, say they’re mulling a protest to withhold their personal tax dollars from the government, until HSBC officials connected to the bank’s latest swindling scandal are sent to prison.
“I am disgusted with [customs]. I am disgusted with HSBC,” said Mr. Wise, in an interview with the Evening Standard. “And I’m not paying a penny more until those evil bastards go to prison.”
Mr. Wise then confirmed that his wife — who won two Best Actress Oscars — was supportive of the notion, Time reported.
“Em’s on board,” he said, the news outlet reported. “She agrees. We’re going to get a load of us together. A movement.”
Their disgust apparently comes from the United Kingdom’s customs authorities to abstain from prosecuting anyone tied to HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary, which has been accused of sheltering more than $7 million belonging to bank executive Stuart Gulliver from taxes.
HSBC has been embroiled in “aggravated money-laundering,” prosecutors said. Among the banks’ reported laundry clients: Mexican drug trafficking gangs. The bank’s also faced fire for helping Iran skirt sanctions, Fortune reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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