Offshore Tax-Avoidance and IRS Compliance Efforts
The IRS continues to uncover abusive tax-avoidance schemes involving offshore activity. Find information here pertaining to Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS).
Aug. 19, 2009, Announcement and Documents
May 27, 2014 — Martin Lack, a former UBS AG banker, was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $7,500 fine. Lack was charged in August 2011 with conspiracy to defraud the United States. He assisted U.S. customers to open and maintain secret bank accounts.
May 9, 2014 — Dr. Patricia Lynn Hough, of Englewood, Florida, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for conspiring to defraud the IRS by concealing millions of dollars in assets and income in offshore bank accounts at UBS and other foreign banks, and for filing false individual income tax returns. Hough was also ordered to pay $15,518,382 in restitution and $42,732 for the costs of prosecution.
March 21, 2014 — Victor Lipukhin, formerly a resident of St. Charles, Ill., was indicted for attempting to interfere with the administration of the Internal Revenue laws and filing false tax returns. Lipukhin, a Russian citizen and former lawful permanent U.S. resident, kept between approximately $4,000,000 and $7,500,000 in assets in two bank accounts with UBS from at least 2002 through 2007.
March 18, 2014 — California attorney Christopher M. Rusch was sentenced to 10 months in prison for helping his clients Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel hide millions of dollars in secret offshore bank accounts. Rusch pleaded guilty on Feb. 6, 2013, to conspiracy to defraud the government and failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
Feb. 26, 2014 — Christopher B. Berg, of Portola Valley, Calif., was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Prior to sentencing, Berg paid more than $250,000 in restitution to the IRS, as well as a penalty of $287,896 for failure to properly report his foreign account.
Jan. 14, 2014 — H. Ty Warner was sentenced to two years’ probation for tax evasion. Warner has paid more than $53 million in a civil penalty, as well as approximately $27 million in back taxes and interest.
Sept. 24, 2013 — Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel were each sentenced to 10 months in prison. Stephen M. Kerr and Michael Quiel were convicted of failing to disclose secret offshore bank accounts in Switzerland. Kerr and Quiel, prominent Phoenix businessmen, were each convicted of two counts of filing false individual income tax returns for 2007 and 2008. Kerr was also convicted of two counts of failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
July 16, 2013 — Peter Troost, of Skokie, Ill., was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison for evading taxes on more than $3 million held in offshore UBS accounts. Troost has already paid over $1 million in back taxes, as well as a civil penalty of approximately $3.75 million.
April 25, 2013 — Mary Estelle Curran, of Palm Beach, Fla., was sentenced for filing false tax returns. Curran pleaded guilty in January 2013 and agreed to pay a civil penalty of $21 million.
Mar 21, 2013 — Rakesh Chitkara, of Marlboro, N.J., pleaded guilty to filing false personal federal income tax returns. Chitkara must repay back taxes and pay a civil penalty of $839,885 for willfully failing to file Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) on at least two accounts at UBS AG in Zurich, Switzerland.
Jan. 30, 2013 — Christopher B. Berg of Portola Valley, Calif., pleaded guilty today to willfully failing to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) for an account he controlled at UBS in the year 2005.
