3 U.S. men accused of evading taxes in Swiss banks

WASHINGTON | Tue Jan 31, 2012 9:58am EST

(Reuters) - Two Phoenix businessmen and a former attorney in San Diego were charged in a federal indictment with evading U.S. taxes by concealing millions of dollars at UBS AG and another Swiss bank, the Justice Department said on Monday.

It said the businessmen, Stephen Kerr and Michael Quiel, had more than $8.2 million in UBS accounts and a second, unidentified, Swiss bank in 2007.
The former attorney, Christopher Rusch, was arrested in Miami on Sunday after being expelled from Panama at the request of the United States. Rusch helped set up and manage the accounts for the two businessmen, the announcement said.

All three men were accused in Phoenix of tax evasion and failure to disclose offshore accounts. A grand jury issued the indictment in December. It was unsealed on Monday.
The Justice Department said Rusch used the Swiss funds and a Panamanian shell company to help Kerr hide the purchase of a Colorado golf course.
Justice is investigating 11 Swiss and Swiss-style banks suspected of selling offshore tax evasion services to tens of thousands of Americans.

In 2009, UBS paid $780 million to settle Justice Department criminal charges that it helped thousands of U.S. clients hide $20 billion. UBS later turned over 4,450 American client names, on top of an initial 255 at the time of the settlement. It was a watershed breach in Swiss bank secrecy, which protects client confidentiality under law and does not consider tax evasion a crime.
(Reporting by Patrick Temple-West; Editing by Howard Goller, Phil Berlowitz)