US seeks probation for Ex-UBS banker in tax evasion case
MIAMI (AP) — A former executive at Swiss bank UBS AG might avoid jail time and end up with probation because of his extensive cooperation in a long-running U.S. investigation into tax evasion using secret accounts.
Prosecutors asked a judge to order five years’ probation and a $150,000 fine for Hansruedi Schumacher in a sentencing memo filed Monday. Schumacher pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to defraud the U.S., which could send him to prison for nearly six years.
Schumacher admitted in court helping wealthy U.S. citizens evade the Internal Revenue Service using secret Swiss accounts. He later became a key U.S. witness.
Several other bankers and dozens of customers have been prosecuted. UBS itself paid a $780 million fine to the U.S. in 2009 and agreed to disclose names of thousands of its American customers.
