U.S. prosecutors on Thursday announced they indicted Peter Amrein, a Swiss asset manager, on charges that he assisted U.S. taxpayers in evading millions in taxes by hiding money in offshore trusts at multiple Swiss banks.

More than 43,000 U.S. taxpayers have avoided prosecution since 2009 by voluntarily disclosing their offshore accounts to the IRS and paying back taxes, fines and penalties. Several indictments refer to those taxpayers by generic names, such as Client 1 or
Client 2.

The Amrein indictment refers to nine clients who hid assets in a variety of ways. Most used sham foundations to hide the true ownership of the accounts.

One Las Vegas resident, referred to as Client 9, ran a website that reported celebrity-related news, according to the indictment.

“In light of the potential exposure to litigation from celebrities who were displeased with Client 9’s website,” Client 9 contacted Amrein. He opened an undeclared account in 2007 in the name of a sham Panamanian foundation called WebMedia Publishing SA, according to the indictment.

Amrein opened the account with $250,000 at Swiss Bank No. 4, where it grew to $500,000 in value, according to the indictment. Amrein later transferred it to Wegelin, and then to Swiss Bank No. 2, according to the indictment.

Prosecutors accuse Amrein, who worked at an unidentified asset management firm, of working with Edgar Paltzer, a Zurich-based lawyer who pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court in August to assisting U.S. clients commit tax fraud by opening bank accounts in Switzerland that shielded them from U.S. authorities. Paltzer agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.   U.S. v. Amrein, 13-cr-972, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

US charges Swiss asset manager in offshore tax fraud case

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