'Rich' UBS clients charged with tax evasion

Seven former UBS AG clients, including two who pleaded guilty, were accused of tax crimes as the U.S. Justice Department extends its crackdown on offshore tax evasion. Federal prosecutors in New York today released separate indictments against Shmuel Sternfeld, Sybil Nancy Upham, Ernest Vogliano and Richard Werdiger and a criminal complaint against Kenneth Heller. Federico Hernandez and Jules Robbins entered guilty pleas in federal court in New York. “We're sending the message that the rich are not different, the rich are not special,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in an interview. “Multi-millionaires with Swiss accounts have to pay their taxes like everyone else.” Both Hernandez and Robbins admitted they filed false tax returns that failed to disclose offshore accounts. Both also agreed to plead guilty in state Supreme Court in New York. Robbins will pay a $20.8 million civil penalty for failing to file required Reports of Foreign Bank or Financial Accounts, or FBARs. Hernandez will pay a $4.4 million FBAR penalty. “I filed federal income tax returns that I knew were not true because they did not mention a UBS account I controlled in Switzerland or any income on that account,” Robbins told U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis today. The charges were released as the Internal Revenue Service broadened a crackdown on offshore tax evasion before today's IRS filing deadline. Three former clients of Zurich-based UBS pleaded guilty earlier this year to tax crimes and six admitted guilt last year. UBS avoided U.S. prosecution in 2009 by paying $780 million, turning over the names of U.S. account holders and admitting it helped Americans hide assets from the IRS.