Swiss Banker Charged In US Court Over Tax Conspiracy

Stephen Little

14 November 2014

A Manhattan Federal Court has charged a former Swiss banker for conspiring with US taxpayers to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts.

Martin Dunki, formerly a vice president at Swiss private bank Rahn & Bodmer, was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. He lives in Switzerland and has not been arrested, according to a statement by the US attorney’s office.

The bank was not named in the statement, but prosecutors said it claimed to be the oldest in Switzerland. Rahn & Bodmer, founded in 1750, claims to be the oldest such institution of its kind on its website.

“As alleged, Martin Dunki went to great lengths to help his US taxpayer clients secret away millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts. With today’s indictment, Dunki joins the ranks of many other individuals this Office has charged in connection with hiding money in offshore bank accounts from the Internal Revenue Service,” said Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

The news comes shortly after the trial of Raoul Weil, the former head of UBS’s global wealth management business, who was acquitted earlier this month by a Florida jury of a charge that he conspired to help US clients cheat on their taxes. The jury found that Weil, who agreed to be extradited in 2013, had not been guilty of helping customers hide $20 billion in offshore accounts.

According to the allegations contained in the indictment, Dunki helped US taxpayers hide hundreds of millions of dollars by using a number of sham entities in Liechtenstein, Liberia, and Panama.

Dunki conspired with Edgar Paltzer, an attorney based in Zurich, Switzerland, who previously pleaded guilty last year for his role in assisting US taxpayers and others to evade taxes.

Prosecutors said Dunki initially used sham foundations in Liechtenstein between 1999 to 2008, according to the indictment. Following Liechtenstein’s agreement to share tax information in 2008 with the US, Dunki moved the funds into new accounts at his employer held by foundations created in Panama.

Dunki also helped American taxpayers bring funds back to the US and on on at least one occasion provided a client with an envelope containing $10,000 in cash.