Swiss Lawyer Charged With Helping To Hide Swiss Bank Accounts And Monies Returned To US Clients

Felix M. Mathis, an attorney practicing in Zurich, Switzerland, has been indicted by the U.S. government on grounds that he conspired to defraud the United States and structured the importation of currency into this country. If convicted, Mathis faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1.25 million. 

According to allegations contained in court documents: 
 
In 1997, Dr. Andrew Silva of Sterling, Va., inherited an undeclared bank account from his mother at the Zurich branch of a bank headquartered in England, which also has offices in Zurich and the Eastern District of Virginia. The account was held in the name of a sham Liechtenstein trust. In 1999, Silva met with Mathis, who managed the account in Zurich. Mathis instructed Silva to keep the account "hush," to not keep any records relating to the account, and to send coded letters to him if he wished to meet. Further, Mathis advised Silva that if he transported or mailed less than $10,000 in U.S. currency back to the United States, he would not have to declare the funds to the U.S. government upon re-entry to the United States.
 
In September 2009, Silva was informed that the bank was closing his undeclared Swiss account and that he had until the end of the year to travel to Switzerland to withdraw all funds. Silva made two trips to Zurich in October and November 2009 and met with Mathis at his office and a Swiss banker at the private wealth office of the international bank. Mathis and the Swiss banker refused to wire the money to the United States as it would leave a trail for U.S. law enforcement. Instead, they provided him with $235,000 in U.S. currency. Of that total, Silva received $200,000 in two individually wrapped "bricks" of $100,000 of sequentially numbered, new $100 bills.
 
With the assistance of Mathis, Silva mailed 26 packages containing over $200,000 in U.S. currency from Switzerland to the United States to himself and another person.
 
Silva pleaded guilty on February 16 to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to making a false statement. As part of his plea agreement, Silva agreed to forfeit to the government $211,200 in U.S. currency that law enforcement officials seized from packages that he mailed from Switzerland to his residence in Sterling, Va. On June 11, 2010, U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady sentenced Silva to two years of probation, including four months of home detention and a $20,000 fine.