I have a hypothetical question, so please skip the mussar shmuzen...

1. Can a foreign national open a US bank account, despite the fact that he has no SS number, and is not currently a resident or present in the US. (legally I know the answer is yes, but does anyone know of any banks who will open an account hassle free for such a person (if they need to have a valid US address that is obtainable).

2. If such a person holds US citizenship, but fails to disclose that to the bank, is he in violation of any laws? (obviously you can't lie if they ask you, but what if they don't ask and you produce a valid foreign passport ID number) and if so, is there any possible way for the US government to find out (the names are different)?

The person in question is an Israeli who does not reside in the US and is working in Israel as an outside consultant for a US company (explicitly NOT an employee of that company). That company wants to know how and where to pay him and the above person who is a US citizen does not want to deposit the checks in a bank account linked to his SS number because he is worried about getting into trouble with the IRS because he may be liable for taxes, social security and whatnot even though he is neither working or residing in the USA, and it would require the employer to fill out the appropriate paperwork and submit it to the IRS. If the consultant is overseas, no such paperwork or notification is necessary.

What about HSBC. They are a foreign bank but have branches in the U.S. I'm pretty sure they have branches in Israel, so he can open up the account there.

i keep on hearing on the radio of some israeli bank...

That is not allowed for money laundering reasons. You can't "use" the same bank account in two countries...
So even if he opens an acct in the Israeli HSBC I don't think they can deposit money in the American Bank and have it available.....

I currently have that issue (not hypothetically). I have a US bank account, and money in the US, and sometimes my parents or other people want to give me money or pay me for stuff and the only way to do it is to either deposit the dollar check in the Israeli account (and wait months for it to clear), or take it to a check cashing place and pay 1.5%, or deposit it in the US and use the ATM card which has a limit and a fee.....

Why not just use your SS#? So probably won't owe much tax if any and the tax return would be less of a hastle than trying to pull this off.

ETA: Why can't the company wire the money to this person's foreign bank account?

That is an option, but worse comes to worse they can always mail this person a check in Israel and he can cash it at a check cashing place. Whatever the fee is (1.5% usually), will be less than the taxes and it will be a slight inconvenience not to have direct deposit.....

The bank doesn't ask nor care about your citizenship. All they need to know is that you are who you claim to be, and you have an address for correspondence.

Leave it to Misha...