NEWARK, N.J. — A New Jersey client of the international banking giant UBS AG has pleaded guilty to concealing more than $6 million in assets in Swiss bank accounts.
Juergen Homann of Saddle River is the fifth U.S.-based UBS client to plead guilty in an ongoing federal investigation into the bank's practices. UBS officials have admitted helping wealthy American clients use foreign accounts to hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service.
Homann, 66, is a Germanborn U.S. citizen who runs an industrial mineral and chemical trading company - whichhe declined to name - that does business mainly between China and Latin America. Surrounded by lawyers, Homann tersely answered in a slight German accent a long list of questions from U.S. District Judge Stanley Chesler as to whether he fully understood the consequences of entering a guilty plea.
Prosecutors say Homman established an account with UBS in the late 1980s in the name of a Liechtenstein foundation. Under the advice of Swiss lawyer Matthias Rickenbach, prosecutors say, Homann transferred his assets to a less-transparent Hong Kong corporation under the name ELM Finance Limited.
Court papers showHomann had about $6.1 million in assets in the ELM account at UBS in Switzerland from 2001 through 2008. Prosecutors contend he used the ELM account for a sham loan of $5 million used to fund his U.S. business.
Rickenbach was indicted in the fraud case in August over his purported role in helping wealthy clients conceal their assets.
Under terms of the plea agreement, Homann pleaded guilty to the one-count information for purposely failing to report his foreign accounts. He acknowledged in a Newark federal courtroom Friday that in addition to not filing the required disclosure forms, he failed to report the account onhis individual tax return and failed to report income earned on the account.
Homann faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine that could potentially reach several million dollars. Homann and his lawyers declined to comment on the case.
UBS has entered into an agreement with the authorities to divulge names of some 4,450 wealthy Americans suspected of evading taxes through secret bank accounts.
Michael BenAry, a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice's tax division, said Homann's guilty plea is part of a wider multi-agency investigation that continues in New Jersey and nationally.
Business, Pages 32 on 09/26/2009