The Department of Justice released Monday that Phoenix-area businessmen Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel and former San Diego attorney Christopher M. Rusch were charged in Phoenix with conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for concealing millions of dollars in assets in numerous secret Swiss bank accounts held at UBS and elsewhere.
Read the full DOJ press release.
Leave a Comment » | 
IRS, Offshore Accounts, Tax Evasion and Fraud | Tagged: offshore Swiss bank accounts, Swiss banks, tax evasion, UBS | 
Permalink
Posted by William Lovett
Switzerland’s oldest private bank, Wegelin & Co. announced Friday that they had agreed to sell the bank to the Raiffeisen banking group. Wegelin senior managing partner Konrad Hummler said the sale had resulted from “the extraordinarily difficult situation and threat to the bank brought about by the legal dispute with the US”.
On January 3, 2012, three Wegelin bankers were indicted on charges they conspired to impede and impair the IRS. The bankers are accused of helping more than 100 U.S. taxpayers hide more than $1.2 billion in income and assets from the IRS by “opening and servicing “undeclared accounts.”
Wegelin is one of 11 Swiss banks involved in the U.S. Justice Department probe of banks suspected of selling offshore tax evasion services to Americans.
See Also:
Leave a Comment » | FBAR, IRS, Offshore Accounts, Tax Evasion and Fraud | Tagged: Credit Suisse, offshore accounts, offshore Swiss bank accounts, tax evasion, U.S. Citizens, UBS, Wegelin | Permalink
Posted by William Lovett
On January 3, 2012, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, announced the indictment of three Swiss bankers from Wegelin & Company on charges they conspired to impede and impair the IRS. The defendants, Michael Berlinka, Urs Frei and Roger Keller, referred to as Client Advisors at Swiss Bank A, are accused of helping more than 100 U.S. taxpayers hide more than $1.2 billion in income and assets from the IRS by “opening and servicing “undeclared accounts.”
Berlinka, Frei and Keller are accused of opening about a dozen accounts in 2008 and 2009, in the wake if the U.S. government’s began investigation of UBS AG. Renzo Gadola, a former senior banker at UBS AG, was recently sentenced to five years probation for his role in advising U.S. citizens on how to conceal funds in offshore accounts.
The indictment comes after reports that the U.S. gave 11 Swiss banks a December 20, 2011 deadline to turn over detailed information on their offshore banking businesses in order to avoid legal action. In November 2011, Credit Suisse, the second largest bank in Switzerland, produced details on 130 Americans suspected of evading billions of dollars in taxes.
If convicted Berlinka, Frei and Keller each face up to five years imprisonment and fines of up to $250,000.
See Also:
The Berlinka, Frei and Keller Indictment
Deadline Passes for Swiss Banks to Hand Over Offshore Accounts
U.S. Authorities Continue To Target Bankers Who Promoted Offshore Tax Evasion
Credit Suisse Discloses Account Records of 130 US Citizens to IRS
Leave a Comment » | FBAR, IRS, Offshore Accounts, Tax Evasion and Fraud | Tagged: Credit Suisse, offshore accounts, offshore Swiss bank accounts, tax evasion, U.S. Citizens, UBS | Permalink
Posted by William Lovett
Renzo Gadola, a former senior banker at UBS AG, was recently sentenced to five years probation for his role in advising U.S. citizens on how to conceal funds in offshore accounts.
Gadola was arrested in November 2010 in Miami after he was caught on tape advising a client not to disclose a previously undeclared Swiss bank account. Gadola pled guilty in December 2010 to conspiring to impede and impair the IRS and became a key cooperator in the U.S. government’s widening investigation of Americans and Swiss banks suspected of hiding assets to evade billions in taxes. Read Gadola Criminal Complaint and Statement of Facts.
Gadola provided detailed information on clients and colleagues, as well as the role of Swiss cantonal banks in holding offshore accounts has led to charges being brought against two former colleagues, Martin Lack and Christos Bagios, and at least one former client.
Bagiosis is accused of helping more than 100 U.S. citizens hide more than $500 million from the IRS and is awaiting trial. Lack, a fugitive, was also charged with helping clients evade taxes through the use of offshore bank accounts.
The Gadola case is just one of several recent high profile cases involving offshore Swiss accounts. And a preview of many more to come, as evidenced by indictment of seven current and former Credit Suisse bankers in July 2011. Read Adami Superseding Indictment.
See Also Credit Suisse Discloses Account Records of 130 US Citizens to IRS
Leave a Comment » | FBAR, IRS, Offshore Accounts, Tax Evasion and Fraud | Tagged: Credit Suisse bankers, offshore accounts, offshore Swiss bank accounts, offshore tax evasion, Renzo Gadola, tax evasion, U.S. Citizens, UBS | Permalink
Posted by William Lovett
William Lovett
Sean McMahon