A former UBS banker has pleaded guilty in a US court to helping an unidentified billionaire property developer hide $200m in assets from US tax authorities.
Bradley Birkenfeld, a 43-year-old US citizen, told a court in Fort Lauderdale that he was a UBS banker at the time, received a large salary, and was 'incentivised' by his employer to carry out the activities that led to the charges.
He had previously pleaded not guilty. His change of heart and subsequent plea deal could affect a continuing US investigation of UBS's conduct in relation to services it provided to US customers from 2000 to 2007.
US media have reported that UBS is considering whether to reveal the names of up to 20,000 wealthy American clients as federal authorities intensify the probe into offshore bank accounts.
Federal investigators believe some clients may have used offshore accounts to hide as much as $20 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service, enabling them to avoid paying at least $300m in US income taxes, The New York Times reported this month.
Birkenfeld was charged with conspiring to defraud the US by helping the unidentified billionaire create bogus corporations and other entities to conceal the ownership of hidden offshore assets.
