Ex-UBS banker pleads guilty in US tax case
A former banker with UBS has pleaded guilty in the United States to helping wealthy clients hide assets and evade taxes.
Bradley Birkenfeld admitted to tax fraud in a statement issued before a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Thursday.
Prosecutors claimed he and others helped a real estate magnate hide $200 million in assets.
The 43-year-old American citizen left UBS in 2006 and now lives in Switzerland where he works for a Geneva-based private bank.
Analysts say the revelations could damage the position of Switzerland’s largest bank in the US and break Swiss banking secrecy laws.
UBS has issued no comment, but said at the beginning of May that it was cooperating with the US authorities over the case.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.