Peter Amrein, Tax Evasion, New York 2022

Swiss Asset Manager Charged with Tax Evasion

Peter Amrein, a Swiss asset manager, has been charged with conspiring to hide millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts to evade US taxes. According to the indictment, Amrein worked at a Swiss bank and later as an asset manager at a Swiss asset management firm, helping US taxpayers evade taxes and hide millions of dollars in undeclared accounts at various Swiss banks.

The indictment alleges that Amrein worked with Edgar Paltzer, a Zurich-based attorney, to manage undeclared accounts for US taxpayers. Paltzer has previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to help US taxpayers evade taxes. Amrein requested that Paltzer establish sham foundations in non-US countries to conceal the assets of the clients from the IRS.

Between 1998 and 2012, Amrein helped US taxpayers evade taxes and hide millions of dollars in undeclared accounts at various Swiss banks. In 2006, Amrein left his position at Swiss Bank No. 3 and began working as an asset manager at the Swiss Asset Management Firm. He transferred the undeclared accounts of the Amrein/Paltzer Clients to another Swiss bank, where they continued to be held in the names of sham foundations.

When UBS AG was being investigated by US law enforcement for helping US taxpayers maintain undeclared accounts, Swiss Bank No. 4 informed Amrein that it was going to close the undeclared accounts of the Amrein/Paltzer Clients. Amrein searched for and found another bank in Switzerland that would maintain undeclared accounts of the Amrein/Paltzer Clients.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, "As alleged, from his post in Switzerland, Peter Amrein aided and abetted US taxpayers in their efforts to skirt the tax code and conceal their assets in offshore accounts. As today's charges make clear, tax evasion is a serious offense."

IRS Special Agent-in-Charge Toni Weirauch said, "Offshore tax enforcement remains a top priority for the Internal Revenue Service. Individuals who choose to hide income outside of the United States, as well as those who assist them in hiding their assets, expose themselves to a variety of criminal charges and severe penalties."

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/manhattan-us-attorney-charges-swiss-asset-manager-conspiring-hide-millions-dollars-0