TDMVPDPOY
08-20-2009, 02:32 PM
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25960061-5005961,00.html
Swiss banker charged with tax fraud
From correspondents in Washington
August 21, 2009 04:49am
US authorities have charged a Swiss private banker and a lawyer with helping wealthy Americans hide assets in Switzerland, a day after a landmark tax-evasion case settlement with UBS bank.
Hansruedi Schumacher, executive manager at Swiss private bank Neue Zuercher Bank, and Matthias Rickenbach, a lawyer who provided legal advice and services to American clients, were indicted for conspiring to defraud the US, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service announced.
According to the indictment, Mr Schumacher and Mr Rickenbach established "sham and nominee offshore entities to hide their US clients' assets and income while allowing these clients to still control the assets and make investment decisions".
The indictment alleges Mr Schumacher and Mr Rickenbach concealed the business purpose of their regular trips to the US and would sometimes bring cash for their clients.
According to court documents, the authorities said Mr Schumacher and Mr Rickenbach helped their American clients obtain offshore credit cards and created sham loan documents.
Both allegedly falsified bank documents to generate the appearance that assets of their US clients belonged to Swiss citizens, and they falsified documents to disguise their US clients' repatriation of offshore funds as inheritances from foreign citizens.
The indictment came after UBS agreed yesterday to reveal the identities of about 4450 American clients in a landmark out-of-court settlement of a tax-evasion case that challenged Switzerland's sacrosanct banking secrecy.
UBS and the US and Swiss governments signed agreements capping months of diplomatically sensitive negotiations over the US inquiry into tax evaders with secret accounts at the world's largest wealth manager.
American authorities accused Mr Schumacher and Mr Rickenback of trying to profit from the troubles of UBS, which in February already had pleaded guilty to a US criminal complaint in the government tax-evasion case and paid a $US780 million ($940.8 million) fine.
"This is another step in our ongoing effort to pursue hidden offshore assets - no matter where they are located," Internal Revenue Service commissioner Doug Shulman said of the indictment today. "We're in the early stages of our work to crack down on offshore tax evasion."
The IRS has set up a temporary voluntary disclosure program for citizens to declare their offshore hidden taxable assets, which ends on September 23.
Swiss banker charged with tax fraud
From correspondents in Washington
August 21, 2009 04:49am
US authorities have charged a Swiss private banker and a lawyer with helping wealthy Americans hide assets in Switzerland, a day after a landmark tax-evasion case settlement with UBS bank.
Hansruedi Schumacher, executive manager at Swiss private bank Neue Zuercher Bank, and Matthias Rickenbach, a lawyer who provided legal advice and services to American clients, were indicted for conspiring to defraud the US, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service announced.
According to the indictment, Mr Schumacher and Mr Rickenbach established "sham and nominee offshore entities to hide their US clients' assets and income while allowing these clients to still control the assets and make investment decisions".
The indictment alleges Mr Schumacher and Mr Rickenbach concealed the business purpose of their regular trips to the US and would sometimes bring cash for their clients.
According to court documents, the authorities said Mr Schumacher and Mr Rickenbach helped their American clients obtain offshore credit cards and created sham loan documents.
Both allegedly falsified bank documents to generate the appearance that assets of their US clients belonged to Swiss citizens, and they falsified documents to disguise their US clients' repatriation of offshore funds as inheritances from foreign citizens.
The indictment came after UBS agreed yesterday to reveal the identities of about 4450 American clients in a landmark out-of-court settlement of a tax-evasion case that challenged Switzerland's sacrosanct banking secrecy.
UBS and the US and Swiss governments signed agreements capping months of diplomatically sensitive negotiations over the US inquiry into tax evaders with secret accounts at the world's largest wealth manager.
American authorities accused Mr Schumacher and Mr Rickenback of trying to profit from the troubles of UBS, which in February already had pleaded guilty to a US criminal complaint in the government tax-evasion case and paid a $US780 million ($940.8 million) fine.
"This is another step in our ongoing effort to pursue hidden offshore assets - no matter where they are located," Internal Revenue Service commissioner Doug Shulman said of the indictment today. "We're in the early stages of our work to crack down on offshore tax evasion."
The IRS has set up a temporary voluntary disclosure program for citizens to declare their offshore hidden taxable assets, which ends on September 23.