Another (!) Former UBS Client Pleads Guilty To Hiding Assets In Secret Offshore Bank Accounts

Just yesterday, we pointed out that a UBS client pleaded guilty to concealing over $1 million in Swiss bank accounts. Today, another UBS client has pleaded guilty to tax fraud. In this case, Paul Zabczuk, a resident of The Woodlands, Texas, pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return. 

According to court documents and statements made in court: Zabczuk admitted to filing a false tax return for 2004 wherein he failed to report that he had an interest in or a signature authority over financial accounts at UBS AG, one of Switzerland’s largest bank. He also failed to report income earned on his UBS Swiss bank account. The UBS account was opened in the name of ODF Limited, a nominee Bahamian corporation. For years 2002 through 2007, the tax loss associated with the ODF Limited account at UBS is approximately $267,597. The highest balance of all of the assets the defendant owned and controlled offshore was approximately $529,194.
 
According to the government: Zabczuk provided consulting services relating to the purchase and sale of chemicals by companies involved in drilling for oil. Zabczuk directed his foreign clients to make payments to his company in offshore bank accounts he controlled in the Bahamas and in Switzerland. He also funded his offshore accounts by disguising payments made from his domestic corporation to his offshore corporation as commissions. Zabczuk would repatriate funds to the United States by making cash withdrawals at UBS branches in Nassau, Bahamas; London; and Zurich, Switzerland. He would also wire transfer funds from UBS AG to an agent in the People’s Republic of China, who would then purchase furniture and other antiques on his behalf, which were then sent to the United States for the defendant’s personal use and for resale.
 
Also according to court documents: In or about April 2009, with the assistance of a Swiss banker, Zabczuk transferred his funds from UBS AG to a smaller "off the radar" Swiss bank. The account at the second Swiss bank was opened in the name of a Panamanian nominee entity: Vangas Holdings. In September 2009, Zabczuk instructed the Swiss banker to transfer his assets to a bank in the People’s Republic of China.
 
Our post yesterday is at:
http://www.financialfraudlaw.com/lawblog/ubs-client-pleads-guilty-failing-report-over-1-million-swiss-bank-accounts/925.