Former UBS banker charged in tax case
A former UBS banker has been charged by US federal prosecutors for helping a billionaire property developer evade tax and hide assets abroad, according to an Associated News report.
Bradley Birkenfeld has been charged with conspiring to defraud the US by creating fictitious trusts, bogus corporations and other false entities to hide some $200 million in assets.
The charge also applies to Mario Staggl, a Liechtenstein-based banker who runs New Haven Trust Co. from the principality, said the AP report.
Birkenfeld, a US citizen, was employed by UBS from 2001 to 2006 and worked as a director in the bank’s private banking unit.
The two men face up to five years in jail if convicted.