A Swiss banker associated with the private bank Ihag pleaded guilty in New York to helping Americans hide over $60 million from tax authorities through opaque channels in secret accounts. To assist the clients, the banker implemented the «Singapore Solution»

A Swiss banker on Thursday pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to help rich Americans hide more than $60 million of income and assets that were held in offshore accounts and evading US income taxes, according to a statement from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) on Thursday.

The SDNY's proximity to New York's financial district and reputation for aggressively pursuing criminals, white-collar and financial ones among them, has earned it the moniker of «Sherriff of Wall Street.»

Concealing the Income

The defendant was a member of the executive board of a Swiss holding company that owned a Zurich-based private bank called Privatbank Ihag Zurich, among other entities. The US brought charges against him in 2021.

Between roughly 2009 to 2014, he and his co-conspirators defrauded the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by concealing the income and assets of three wealthy US clients who had undeclared bank accounts at Ihag.  

The Singapore Solution

To assist the American clients, the banker and his co-conspirators devised and implemented the «Singapore Solution» scheme to fraudulently conceal the bank accounts of the clients, their assets, and their income from the prying eyes of US authorities.

The conspiracy involved channeling more than $60 million from undeclared Ihag bank accounts of the US clients through a series of nominee bank accounts in Hong Kong and other locations. The funds would then be returned to newly opened accounts at Ihag in the name of a Singapore-based asset-management firm that the convicted banker helped establish. 

Clients paid substantial fees to Ihag and others to help them conceal their assets and evade US income taxes. 

Sentencing Guidelines

The one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States to which the banker pleaded guilty carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, as prescribed by the US Congress.

That doesn't mean he will serve that much time, and his sentence will be determined by the judge in the case.