U.S. Indicts Two in Switzerland on Tax Charges

Source: New York Times

The Justice Department indicted a Swiss private banking executive and a Swiss lawyer on Thursday, accusing them of selling tax evasion services to wealthy clients. The move opens a new front in Washington’s challenge to Switzerland’s tradition of bank secrecy.

The indictment, filed in United States District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., charged Hansruedi Schumacher, a director at NZB Neue Zürcher Bank of Zurich, and Matthias W. Rickenbach, a Swiss lawyer, with one count each of conspiring to defraud the United States. It was filed a day after the giant Swiss bank UBS said that it had agreed to disclose 4,450 American client names and account details, and it indicated that American authorities were starting to pursue smaller players who might have helped Americans hide money. Smaller Swiss banks have expressed confidence that they could continue to work with American clients and find new ways to protect their privacy.

“These conspiracy charges show that Justice is widening the net beyond UBS to include other banks, and that it is also going beyond individual account holders to the professionals who assist them,” said Lee Sheppard, a tax lawyer in New York and a writer for Tax Analysts, a trade publication.

Mr. Schumacher is a former top private banker for UBS who left around 2002 to establish and oversee NZB’s private banking operations. He worked at NZB until at least last month, the indictment said. Mr. Rickenbach is a partner of the Rickenbach & Partner law firm, with offices in Zurich and Geneva.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/business/global/22tax.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1250859910-B0nnhuW99Em1QQvkK87vdw

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/22/business/global/22tax.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1250859910-B0nnhuW99Em1QQvkK87vdw

Source: bbc

A Swiss banker and lawyer have been indicted by the US Justice Department on charges they helped wealthy Americans evade taxes.

The allegations relate to banker Hansreudi Schumacher, who has now been sacked by employer Neue Zuercher bank, and lawyer Matthias Rickenbach.

The indictments are part of a tax probe in the US, centred on UBS bank.

Later on Friday, former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld will be sentenced for a fraud conspiracy conviction.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8213378.stm

nt

If not, those indictments are not worth the paper they're printed on unless the two gentlemen were stupid enough to travel to the United States.