Press Release
Florida Man Pleads Guilty In Manhattan Federal Court To Hiding Over $1 Million In Secret Bank Accounts In Switzerland And Israel
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Shantelle P. Kitchen, the Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (“IRS-CI”), announced today that BERNARD KRAMER pled guilty to conspiring to conceal from the IRS over one million dollars he had hidden in Swiss and Israeli bank accounts, and willfully failing to disclose those accounts on his U.S. tax returns. KRAMER, who is cooperating with the Government, entered his guilty plea today before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.
According to the criminal Information filed today in Manhattan federal court:
Between approximately 1987 and 2010, KRAMER maintained an undeclared bank account at a Swiss private bank headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland (the “Swiss Bank”). With the assistance of others at the Swiss Bank, KRAMER took steps to conceal the existence of, and his interest in, the undeclared account. KRAMER and certain individuals at the Swiss Bank used the coded phrase “Hot Lips” to refer to KRAMER’s undeclared account at the Swiss Bank. Periodically, KRAMER met with a representative of the Swiss Bank (“Swiss Bank Representative-1”) in the United States to discuss KRAMER’s undeclared account at the Swiss Bank and to review statements related to the account. With the assistance of the Swiss Bank, KRAMER repatriated funds to the United States from his undeclared account in a manner designed to ensure that U.S. authorities did not discover the account, including by requesting and receiving checks from the account in amounts just under $10,000 each.
In approximately 2008, it became publicly known that the Swiss bank UBS AG (“UBS”) was being investigated by United States authorities for helping U.S. taxpayers maintain undeclared accounts. Around that time, KRAMER chose to maintain his undeclared account at the Swiss Bank after being assured by Swiss Bank Representative-1 that KRAMER’s undeclared account would remain safe at the Swiss Bank despite the UBS investigation. In approximately March of 2010, however, with the assistance of Swiss Bank Representative-1 and others at the Swiss Bank and an Israeli bank headquartered in Ramat Gan, Israel (the “Israeli Bank”), KRAMER transferred the remaining assets in his undeclared account at the Swiss Bank to a new undeclared account at the Israeli Bank. KRAMER maintained the new undeclared account at the Israeli Bank from 2010 to 2012.
From approximately 1987 through 2012, KRAMER filed false tax returns with the IRS that failed to report his interest in his undeclared accounts at the Swiss Bank and the Israeli Bank, and the income generated in these undeclared accounts, which had a high value of at least $1.1 million.
KRAMER, 83, of Del Ray Beach, Florida, faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison. As part of his plea, KRAMER has agreed to cooperate with the Government and to pay a civil penalty of $588,042, along with back taxes. He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein on February 6, 2015.
The maximum potential sentence in this case is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.
Mr. Bharara praised the outstanding efforts of IRS-CI in the investigation, which he noted is ongoing. Mr. Bharara also thanked U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division for their assistance in the investigation.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah E. Paul and Jason H. Cowley are in charge of the prosecution.
Updated May 18, 2015
Component