Tax Whistleblower Blog

Another UBS Client is Convicted

Another wealthy client of UBS has plead guilty to tax evasion. This marks another criminal who was taken down by the Tax Whistleblower Reward Program. In addition, this victory for the Internal Revenue Service is another benefit of its offshore tax compliance initiative.

Steven Michael Rubinstein, an accountant involved in the yacht industry, entering a guilty plea in Federal District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to a single count of filing a false tax return that did not disclose his offshore account. As part of the deal, he agreed to cooperate with the government in its continuing investigation into scores of UBS clients who have committed offshore tax evasion.

Mr. Rubinstein was the first American client of UBS’s offshore private banking services to be arrested, last April in Boca Raton, Fla., when he was charged with one criminal count of filing a false and fraudulent tax return that illegally did not disclose the existence of his UBS account. He later plead not guilty but subsequently reversed that plea.

UBS, the world’s largest private bank, admitted in February to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by helping scores of wealthy Americans hide nearly $20 billion overseas.

The bank paid $780 million to settle the charges, but it remains under investigation, as do American clients whom the IRS has pledged to pursue. The admission has helped to open the world of offshore banking and dealt a death blow to Swiss financial secrecy.  The case also marks a ground breaking moment for the Tax Whistleblower Reward Program, where the IRS will pay a guaranteed reward to Whistleblowers.

Mr. Rubinstein was among 285 that UBS turned over in February as part of its settlement.