{"id":1526,"date":"2014-03-12T14:37:24","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T21:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1526"},"modified":"2014-03-12T14:37:24","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T21:37:24","slug":"swiss-banking-investment-adviser-plead-guilty-helping-u-s-citizens-avoid-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=1526","title":{"rendered":"A Swiss Banking and Investment Adviser plead Guilty to Helping U.S. Citizens Avoid Taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

VIRGINIA<\/strong> – A Swiss citizen plead guilty today in U.S. District Court \u00a0to conspiring to help U.S. citizens avoid paying taxes to the IRS by hiding their cash in secret foreign accounts, according to federal authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andreas Bachmann, 56, of Switzerland would meet with U.S. residents and give them cash that was\u00a0withdrawn from undeclared bank accounts or he would take cash from them to deposit in these same foreign accounts, authorities said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Bachmann plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the IRS in connection with this work as a banking and investment adviser for U.S. customers, officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He admitted in his plea agreement that between 1994 and 2006, while working as a relationship manager in Switzerland for a subsidiary of an international bank, he engaged in a wide-ranging conspiracy to aid and assist U.S. customers in evading their income taxes by concealing assets and income in secret Swiss bank accounts.<\/p>\n

Bachmann traveled to the United States twice each year to provide banking services and investment advice to his U.S. customers, he said in his plea agreement. According to Bachmann, \u00a0his executive managers, including the head of the subsidiary’s private bank in Zurich, were aware of his trips and illegal transactions.<\/p>\n

He said he was \u00a0told by the chief executive officer for the subsidiary, \u201cMr. Bachmann, you know what we expect of you, don\u2019t get caught,\u201d court documents indicate.<\/p>\n

Bachmann faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced in August.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s plea is just the latest step in our wide-ranging investigations into Swiss banking activities and demonstrates the Department of Justice’s commitment to global enforcement against those that facilitate offshore tax evasion,\u201d said Deputy Attorney General James Cole. \u201cWe fully expect additional developments over the course of the coming months.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0F<\/span>ederal Officials said\u00a0Bachmann understood that a number of his U.S. customers hide cash from the IRS by concealing their ownership and control of foreign financial accounts . They would hold these accounts in the names of nominee tax haven entities, or structures, which were frequently created in the form of foreign partnerships, trusts, corporations or foundations, officials said.<\/p>\n

Federal authorities provided an example of one transaction:<\/span><\/p>\n