US Indicts Shamwich Swiss Banker and Lawyer

[Duncan Frissell]

Note that the defendants are not said to be in custody.  I take it then
that they are not.


> http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/August/09-tax-825.html
>
> Swiss Banking Executive and Swiss Lawyer Charged with
> Conspiring to Defraud the United States
>
> Defendants Aided Wealthy Americans Conceal Assets in
> Secret Swiss Bank Accounts
>
> WASHINGTON - Hansruedi Schumacher and Matthias Rickenbach,
> both of Switzerland, were indicted today for conspiring to defraud
> the United States, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue
> Service (IRS) announced. According to the indictment, Schumacher
> worked as an executive manager at Neue Zuercher Bank (NZB), a
> Swiss private bank located in Zurich, Switzerland. Rickenbach
> worked as a Swiss attorney who provided legal advice and services
> to U.S. clients. Both are alleged to have aided wealthy Americans
> conceal assets and income in Switzerland from United States
> authorities.
>
> According to the indictment, Schumacher and Rickenbach helped
> wealthy American clients conceal their assets by establishing
> sham and nominee offshore entities to hide their U.S. clients'
> assets and income while allowing these clients to still control
> the assets and make investment decisions.
>
> The indictment further alleges that Schumacher and Rickenbach
> regularly traveled to the United States to conduct banking and
> investment activities with their U.S. clients and that when they
> traveled they concealed their business activities in the United
> States by falsely representing to American authorities that they
> were traveling to the U.S. for personal reasons. While in the
> United States, the defendants would sometimes bring cash
> for their clients.
>
> According to court documents, Schumacher and Rickenbach
> aided their wealthy American clients repatriate money back
> to the United States using several deceptive means. Schumacher
> and Rickenbach helped their clients obtain offshore credit cards
> and created sham loan documents. Additionally, Schumacher
> and Rickenbach falsified bank documents to generate the
> appearance that assets of their U.S. clients belonged to Swiss
> citizens, and they falsified documents to disguise their United
> States clients' repatriation of offshore funds as inheritances
> from foreign citizens.
>
> According to court documents, Schumacher and Rickenbach
> discouraged their U.S. clients from voluntarily coming into
> compliance in the United States. Instead, the defendants
> encouraged their clients to transfer their assets from UBS,
> a large Swiss bank, to NZB, a smaller bank in Switzerland.
> The defendants told their clients that their assets and
> identification would be safer at NZB because they had no
> presence in the United States and was therefore less likely
> to be pressured by the American authorities to disclose the
> identities of their United States clients.