Fla. Accountant is 1st Person Charged in US Probe of UBS Swiss Bank
A Florida accountant is now front-and-center in an ongoing United States probe of perhaps tens of thousands of individuals who may have used secret accounts at the Swiss-based UBS bank to conceal assets and avoid income tax.
Steven Michael Rubinstein, 55, is accused of depositing more than $2 million in gold Kruggerands from South Africa between 2001 and 2008 into UBS accounts that he failed to disclose on his tax returns for 2001 to 2007, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He also allegedly used the accounts to purchase securities worth some 4.5 million in Swiss francs and to fund the construction of a $3 million home in Boca Raton.
“The charges mark the first criminal action against a wealthy American in the government’s ongoing investigation of UBS, the world’s largest private bank,” the newspaper reports.
It doesn’t provide any response from Rubinstein or his lawyer. The New York Times provides a copy of the criminal complaint (PDF) in the case.
Traditionally, Swiss bank accounts are secret. But Rubinstein’s information was among paperwork that UBS turned over to federal prosecutors in February, under a deferred prosecution agreement agreement in a probe against the bank concerning its account-recruitment activities in the U.S., according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Rubinstein, who works for an international yacht manufacturer in Coral Springs, was arrested this morning and taken before a federal magistrate in Fort Lauderdale. Accused of filing a false tax return, he is being held without bond until a hearing next week, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
His UBS accounts were under the name of Hybridge International Ltd., a British Virgin Island corporation, the Sun-Sentinel reports. But that was a ruse, the government contends, to conceal his ownership of the UBS accounts and alleged tax evasion.
The Internal Revenue Service has offered to reduce penalties for UBS customers who come forward and pay their past-due tax. However, the offer doesn’t apply to individuals already under investigation.
Related coverage
Bloomberg: “UBS Client Is First to Be Charged in U.S. Tax Probe “
New York Times: “First Arrest Made in UBS Case”
ABAJournal.com: “US Clients of UBS Mull Options as Feds Press Swiss Bank to Name More Names”
ABAJournal.com: “Swiss Bank UBS Settles With US; Will Pay $780M, Name Client Names”
U.S. Department of Justice (Feb. 2009): “UBS Enters into Deferred Prosecution Agreement”
