Our correspondent Andreas Frank writes:  Swisspartners Group, a Zurich-based money-manager, resolved a U.S. criminal tax probe by paying $4.4 million for helping American clients use secret accounts to evade taxes. In return, the government agreed not to prosecute the firm, citing its “extraordinary cooperation.”

The agreement resulted from Swisspartners’ voluntary production of the files for about 110 U.S. taxpayer clients, according to the Justice Department and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

From about 2001 to about 2011, according to a Justice Department statement, Swisspartners helped its U.S. clients open and maintain undeclared foreign bank accounts, which allowed them to avoid paying taxes in full.

“Swisspartners avoided criminal charges “as a direct result of its decision to self-report misconduct”, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara said.

Swisspartners Group voluntarily took steps in 2008 to stop helping U.S. clients evade income taxes, according to papers filed today Manhattan federal court. Four years later, the firm, although not under investigation, reported its conduct to U.S. officials, according to the government agreement.

Swisspartners Group acknowledged it knew some U.S. clients were maintaining undeclared foreign bank accounts with its assistance in order to evade taxes.

The firm has agreed to continue to cooperation with American prosecutors for at least three more years. If the government determines the firm has violated terms of the agreement it can face prosecution, according to the agreement.

As part of the accord, the money manager will forfeit $3.5 million, representing the fees it earned for the services, and $900,000 in restitution, according to court documents.

The Swisspartners deal, called a non-prosecution agreement, includes four Swisspartners entities: Swisspartners Investment Network AG, Swisspartners Wealth Management AG, Swisspartners Insurance Company SPC Ltd. and Swisspartners Versicherung AG. The agreement “does not apply to any other subsidiaries of Swisspartners Investment Network AG or any individuals” not named.

Insurance company subsidiaries of Swisspartners based in the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein were also parties to the non-prosecution agreement with U.S. authorities, suggesting U.S. investigators may also be looking at the role of foreign insurance companies in helping Americans to evade taxes.

Related Reports: frank-cs.org