First UBS client charged by US gets probation in tax case
The first US client of UBS prosecuted in the US government's wide-ranging offshore tax-evasion probe was sentenced on Wednesday to three years of probation and a year of home confinement.
Defendant Steven Michael Rubinstein, a Florida accountant, also was ordered to pay a $40,000 (€26,925) criminal fine.
The sentence was lighter than the recommendation of prosecutors, who sought a one-year prison term for Rubinstein. He faced a possible sentence of 18 to 24 months under advisory sentencing guidelines.
Rubinstein was sentenced in a Florida federal court for filing a false tax return. Prosecutors charged him in April and he pleaded guilty in June.
Prosecutors said Rubinstein communicated with UBS bankers from 2001 to 2008 about the purchase and sale of securities worth more than 4.5 million Swiss Francs. They also said Rubinstein repatriated roughly $7m into the US to buy property and build a home in Boca Raton, Florida.
Prosecutors requested a reduced sentence for Rubinstein because he is assisting US authorities in their ongoing investigation of offshore tax-evasion.
Rubinstein was prosecuted based on bank records received from UBS.
UBS admitted in February to conspiring to defraud the US government of billions in taxes by helping wealthy Americans hide assets. The bank paid $780m in a deal to avoid prosecution and also agreed to reveal the identities of about 250 US clients who allegedly set up sham accounts.
In August, the bank agreed to turn over the names of another 4,450 US clients suspected of hiding offshore accounts.
A Justice Department spokesman had no comment on Rubinstein's sentence.
-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; brent.kendall@dowjones.com
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