By Kim Dixon and Kim Palmer
WASHINGTON/CLEVELAND, March 8 (Reuters) - A Credit Suisse client pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on Tuesday to evading taxes, confirming that the bank has become tangled in the U.S. government's latest wave of tax evasion probes.
Defendant Edward Gurary, of Ohio, was originally charged with hiding assets at accounts at Swiss bank UBS AG , but he now also admits he hid assets at Credit Suisse.
U.S. officials have said they are investigating other banks after UBS in 2009 paid $780 million to settle tax evasion charges. The case marks the first time Credit Suisse has been mentioned in the government's cases against U.S. citizens.
A Credit Suisse spokeswoman declined to comment on the case, but said the bank is not a target of any probe.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster advised Gurary, who now lives in Switzerland, that his sentence was being deferred on condition that he provide 'substantial assistance' to the Department of Justice.
Gurary agreed to pay a penalty amount of half of the highest total amount in the two accounts between the years 2002 and 2009, which according to his plea agreement was at least $473,000.
The case follows an indictment filed last month charging four bankers, identified by sources as working at Credit Suisse, with encouraging Americans to dodge taxes.
In that case, one of the accused Credit Suisse bankers, Emanuel Agustoni, told Reuters he acted with the bank's knowledge and consent.
The government accused Gurary of hiding nearly $1 million in a UBS account by creating a sham company called Demko, allegedly based in the Bahamas.
Gurary was also accused of transferring funds from UBS to other foreign bank accounts.
NEW WAVE
The latest flurry of cases comes as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service revives an amnesty program designed to persuade tax dodgers to declare untaxed assets, with the promise of lower penalties.
The last IRS amnesty scheme brought in about 15,000 wealthy U.S. taxpayers. Many believe the government's active lawsuit against UBS at the time was a major boost to that earlier effort.
Jean Ryan, a lawyer for wealthy individuals at Sideman & Bancroft, said she is getting more calls from the criminal division of the IRS and Justice Department, asking about individual bankers and banks.
'That seems to be heating up,' she said, noting that Credit Suisse is a name that keeps popping up.
Attorneys anticipate more prosecutions in the run up to April 15 - the date U.S. individual income taxes are due. The federal government has used that strategy in the past to remind people of their tax obligations.
Gurary's case, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, is no. 11-00072.
(Reporting by Kim Dixon in Washington and Kim Palmer in Cleveland; Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; Editing by Bernard Orr and Tim Dobbyn) Keywords: USA CREDITSUISSE/TAXES (kim.dixon@reuters.com; +1 202 354-5864; Reuters Messaging:kim.dixon.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
WASHINGTON/CLEVELAND, March 8 (Reuters) - A Credit Suisse client pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on Tuesday to evading taxes, confirming that the bank has become tangled in the U.S. government's latest wave of tax evasion probes.
Defendant Edward Gurary, of Ohio, was originally charged with hiding assets at accounts at Swiss bank UBS AG , but he now also admits he hid assets at Credit Suisse.
U.S. officials have said they are investigating other banks after UBS in 2009 paid $780 million to settle tax evasion charges. The case marks the first time Credit Suisse has been mentioned in the government's cases against U.S. citizens.
A Credit Suisse spokeswoman declined to comment on the case, but said the bank is not a target of any probe.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster advised Gurary, who now lives in Switzerland, that his sentence was being deferred on condition that he provide 'substantial assistance' to the Department of Justice.
Gurary agreed to pay a penalty amount of half of the highest total amount in the two accounts between the years 2002 and 2009, which according to his plea agreement was at least $473,000.
The case follows an indictment filed last month charging four bankers, identified by sources as working at Credit Suisse, with encouraging Americans to dodge taxes.
In that case, one of the accused Credit Suisse bankers, Emanuel Agustoni, told Reuters he acted with the bank's knowledge and consent.
The government accused Gurary of hiding nearly $1 million in a UBS account by creating a sham company called Demko, allegedly based in the Bahamas.
Gurary was also accused of transferring funds from UBS to other foreign bank accounts.
NEW WAVE
The latest flurry of cases comes as the U.S. Internal Revenue Service revives an amnesty program designed to persuade tax dodgers to declare untaxed assets, with the promise of lower penalties.
The last IRS amnesty scheme brought in about 15,000 wealthy U.S. taxpayers. Many believe the government's active lawsuit against UBS at the time was a major boost to that earlier effort.
Jean Ryan, a lawyer for wealthy individuals at Sideman & Bancroft, said she is getting more calls from the criminal division of the IRS and Justice Department, asking about individual bankers and banks.
'That seems to be heating up,' she said, noting that Credit Suisse is a name that keeps popping up.
Attorneys anticipate more prosecutions in the run up to April 15 - the date U.S. individual income taxes are due. The federal government has used that strategy in the past to remind people of their tax obligations.
Gurary's case, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, is no. 11-00072.
(Reporting by Kim Dixon in Washington and Kim Palmer in Cleveland; Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; Editing by Bernard Orr and Tim Dobbyn) Keywords: USA CREDITSUISSE/TAXES (kim.dixon@reuters.com; +1 202 354-5864; Reuters Messaging:kim.dixon.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.