FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—UBS AG banker pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to helping an unidentified billionaire real estate developer hide $200 million in assets from U.S. tax authorities.
Bradley Birkenfeld, a 43-year-old U.S. citizen, told a court in Fort Lauderdale that he was a UBS banker at the time, received a large salary, and was "incentivized" by his employer to carry out the activities that led to the charges.
He had previously pleaded not guilty. His change of heart and subsequent plea deal could affect an ongoing U.S. investigation of UBS's conduct in relation to services it provided to U.S. clients from 2000 through 2007.
U.S. media have reported that UBS is considering whether to reveal the names of up to 20,000 wealthy American clients as federal authorities intensify the probe into offshore bank accounts.
Federal investigators believe some clients may have used offshore accounts to hide as much as $20 billion in assets from the Internal Revenue Service, enabling them to avoid paying at least $300 million in federal income taxes, The New York Times reported this month.
Unsealed last month, the grand jury indictment against Birkenfeld charged him with conspiring to defraud the United States by helping the unidentified U.S. billionaire create bogus corporations and other entities to conceal the ownership of hidden offshore assets.
Birkenfeld waived a reading of the indictment in the court on Thursday and then began to go over a seven-page statement of facts with U.S. District Judge William Zloch.
Sentencing was set for Aug. 13.
Birkenfeld's co-defendant, UBS banker Mario Staggl, is believed to be in Liechtenstein.
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