4th person charged in UBS tax-evasion case
A California businessman Fri. became the 4th person charged with using an offshore account at Swiss banking giant UBS to cover funds from the IRS as federal prosecutors kept up stress on other well off American citizens with secret foreign accounts to come clean. Malibu resident John McCarthy agreed to plead guilty to failing to hand over a UBS account that investigators charged he used to transfer more than $1 million in business revenue out of the country tax free.
McCarthy, whose business wasn’t identified by prosecutors, admitted he purposely ducked payment of at least $200,000 in federal revenue taxes on the cash he sent to the UBS account he anonymously controlled using the name COGS Ventures , a HK entity. By agreeing to plead guilty at a federal court hearing set for Sept. 14, he’s going to face a maximum five-year jail term and $250,000 in fines, and payment of 5 years of back taxes and penalties. “Mr McCarthy has accepted accountability for his conduct,” declared defense lawyer Steven Toscher.
“He, like lots of other US taxpayers, has made heavy mistakes referring to the use of foreign bank accounts.”. McCarthy opened his UBS account in 2003 and afterwards used it to transfer more than $1 million from his L.A. firm, according to the federal plea agreement filed Fri. . He transferred extra funds to other UBS accounts from one more UBS account he controlled in the Cayman Islands. UBS actively helped him hide the funds, as bank delegates told him “a lot of United States’ clients don’t report their ( business ) earnings and just take it off the top,” the contract said. 3 other UBS customers from Florida were also part of that group, and confessed early on in the year to filing fake tax returns.
For its recognized involvement, UBS also agreed to pay $780 million to defer prosecution of legal charges that it frequently sent its financiers on surreptitious journeys to the US to help Yank buyers like McCarthy place assets in offshore accounts that wouldn’t be reported to the IRS. till an initial agreement was reached on Wed., UBS had confounded IRS demands in a federal civil court action for account information on up to 52,000 other rich Yankee clients suspected of using offshore accounts to dodge millions of greenbacks in taxes.
The number of accounts to be revealed and the timing of the new handover are anticipated to be revealed as early as next week after both sides and the Swiss state officially approve a legal condition. Eileen Mayer, CEO of the IRS Criminal Inquiry Division, called the McCarthy case “the tip of the iceberg” in a continual effort to prosecute American citizens who use offshore accounts to dodge taxes. “The fact this case was handled out of California and the earlier cases were in Florida shows this is a heavy inquiry that extends across the country,” expounded aid US solicitor Sandra Brown in LA.
Acting aid solicitor General John DiCicco, head of the Justice Office tax division, cited the charges against McCarthy as an alert that other tax evaders should take merit of an IRS voluntary discovery program. The program, which offers leniency for people that stand up, is ready to expire Sept. “Many taxpayers are asking whether to come into observance of respect to their previous tax indiscretions,” announced Toscher, whose Beverly Hills legal company represents other UBS clients.
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