Man says Holocaust prompted his tax crimes
An tax evader has been sentence by a United States court to ten months in jail for hiding more than $10 million (SFr10.7 million) in secret Swiss accounts.
Jack Barouh, 65, said his Jewish parent’s experience fleeing the Nazi Holocaust had driven him to hide the money at big bank UBS and offshore tax havens.
US District Judge Adalberto Jordan noted that Barouh has sought psychiatric help for the Holocaust compulsion, which his attorney described as the desire to “hide and hoard” assets to guard against a potential repeat of the Nazi attempt to exterminate Jews during World War II.
Barouh pleaded guilty in February, the latest in a string of convictions won by the Justice Department after UBS last year admitted orchestrating tax evasion among rich US clients and paid a $780 million fine. UBS also separately agreed to turn over more than 4,450 names of wealthy Americans suspected of dodging taxes through secret UBS accounts.
Although Barouh faced up to 2 1/2 years in prison, prosecutors sought a reduction because he has provided extensive information about two Swiss money managers and one Swiss attorney, who were not identified in court.
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