Another Former Swiss Executive Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud & Conspiracy

According to DoJ, a Swiss national pleaded guilty on December 21, 2023 to conspiring to defraud the United States for his role in a scheme to help high-net-worth U.S. taxpayers conceal their income and assets in offshore accounts.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Rolf Schnellmann was the former head of Allied Finance Trust AG, a ZuJanuary come in andrich-based financial services company and a subsidiary of the Allied Finance Group in Liechtenstein. Rolf Schnellmann, Daniel Wälchli and Zurich, Switzerland-based Allied Finance Trust AG were indicted in 2020 for conspiracy to defraud the US.

From approximately 2008 to 2014, Schnellmann and his co-conspirators defrauded the IRS by concealing income and assets of high-net-worth U.S. taxpayer-clients in undeclared bank accounts at Privatbank IHAG Zurich AG (IHAG), a Swiss private bank. 

Schnellmann And His Co-Conspirators Devised And Implemented A Scheme Dubbed The “Singapore Solution” To Fraudulently Conceal The Bank Accounts Of The U.S. Taxpayer-Clients, Their Assets And Their Income From U.S. Authorities.

As part of the scheme, Schnellmann and his co-conspirators conspired to transfer more than $60 million from the U.S. taxpayer-clients’ undeclared IHAG bank accounts through a series of nominee accounts in Hong Kong and other locations before returning the funds to newly opened accounts at IHAG in the name of a Singapore-based asset-management firm that a co-conspirator helped establish. The U.S. taxpayer-clients paid large fees to IHAG and others to help them conceal their funds and assets and evade taxes. 

Schnellmann Was Indicted For Helping 3 U.S.
Taxpayer-Clients Conceal More Than $60 Million Offshore.

Schnellmann was arrested in August in Italy and extradited to the United States. He is scheduled to be sentenced on July 19, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of five (5) years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Read more at: Tax Times blog