Florida man pleads guilty in UBS tax fraud (AFP)

[Yahoo!_news]

AFP - A Florida man accused of hiding assets offshore with Swiss banking giant UBS pleaded guilty Thursday to filing a false tax return in the first prosecution in a massive fraud probe, officials said.

Steven Michael Rubinstein, of Boca Raton, faces up to three years in prison and a fine that could be 250,000 dollars or twice the amount of estimated tax losses.

Rubinstein, who according to officials held at least seven million dollars in UBS-managed offshore accounts, was the first UBS client to be criminally charged in a probe of offshore accounts used for tax evasion.

"Today's guilty plea resolves the first prosecution of a UBS client based upon records received from UBS pursuant to the historic deferred prosecution agreement executed earlier this year" of the Swiss bank, said acting US Attorney Jeffrey Sloman.

"More prosecutions are expected to follow, as we continue to hold accountable those who conceal money and assets in an effort to avoid their income tax obligations."

More...