DOJ: Swiss Lawyer Indicted For Helping To Hide Swiss Account

15th Jul 2010 23:13

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES The Justice Department on Thursday said a grand jury indicted a Swiss lawyer with conspiring to defraud the U.S. by helping to hide Swiss bank accounts and help organize the shipment of currency into the U.S. If convicted, Felix M. Mathis, an attorney practicing in Zurich, faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1.25 million. Attempts to contact Mathis were unsuccessful. According to court documents, in 1997, a Virginia doctor, Andrew Silva, inherited an undeclared bank account from his mother at a Zurich branch of an international bank. The Justice Department wouldn't name the identity of the bank, although Dow Jones reported earlier this year the bank was London-based HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC, HSBA.LN). In 1999, Silva met with Mathis who managed the account in Zurich. Mathis instructed Silva to keep the account "hush," according to the Justice Department, and not keep any records relating to the account. Further, Mathis allegedly advised Silva that if he transported or mailed less than $10,000 in U.S. currency back to the states, he wouldn't have to declare the funds to the government upon re-entry to the U.S. According to court documents, Silva was informed last year that the bank was closing his account and he had until the end of 2009 to withdraw all funds. He made two trips to Zurich, in October and November 2009, and met with Mathis. Mathis and an unnamed Swiss banker refused to wire the money, instead providing Mathis with $235,000 in U.S. currency. Of that total, Silva received $200,000 in two individually wrapped "bricks" of sequentially numbered new bills. With the assistance of Mathis, the Justice Department said Silva mailed 26 packages containing the currency to the U.S. to himself and another person. Silva in February plead guilty to hiding assets. The department said Silva's guilty plea was the first implicating a bank headquartered in England. Prosecutors also said Silva filed false U.S. tax returns from 1997 through 2008. As part of his plea, Silva agreed to forfeit $211,200 that the government seized from packages he mailed from Switzerland to Virginia. Last month, he was sentenced to two years of probation, including four months of home detention and a $20,000 fine. -By John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2480; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 15, 2010 18:13 ET (22:13 GMT)