Unfarkingbelievable! We all know how Jews love to carp on, about the Holocaust to mute any criticism they receive but playing the Holocaust Card in this case is a bit too much, NO?....
UBS tax evader cites Holocaust "survival behavior"
By Pascal Fletcher – 55 mins ago
MIAMI (Reuters) – A Jewish Florida watchmaker who faces a possible jail term for filing a false tax return is arguing that "survival behavior" learned from the Holocaust influenced his attempt to hide funds from U.S. tax authorities in Swiss UBS bank accounts.
Jack Barouh, 65, who had owned and operated Michele Watches, a business he sold in 2004, is due to be sentenced on Friday in a Miami federal court. He is asking the court to sentence him to home detention, rather than jail.
Barouh pleaded guilty in February to filing a false tax return by failing to report his offshore bank accounts and not reporting income he received from his UBS accounts.
In his plea deal, Barouh admitted hiding about $10 million in foreign bank accounts he controlled, from 2002 to 2008, in Switzerland and Hong Kong, using the names of sham companies allegedly based in Panama, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands, among other places.
Prosecutors have recommended a reduced prison sentence of 20 months, while Barouh requested a one-year home detention sentence that would keep him out of jail. The maximum term he could face was three years in prison.
In seeking leniency, Barouh's lawyers cited a doctor's report arguing that "certain lessons and survival behavior learned and adopted by the Defendant's parents during the Holocaust and their escape from it" had contributed to his actions in maintaining the undeclared overseas bank accounts.
The report by Doctor Jerald Ratner, as cited in a memorandum submitted to the court, said Barouh, whose parents survived the killing of Jews in Europe by the Nazis during World War Two, had experienced discrimination and abuse for being Jewish as a child in Colombia.
"SECRET NEST EGG"
After moving to the United States, Barouh also experienced discrimination, verbal abuse and some mild physical abuse because of his Colombian accent and, at least initially, somewhat flawed English, the report added.
It said Barouh's actions were motivated by fears of possible persecution and sudden loss and by a "hide and hoard" behavior adopted by Holocaust survivors and their children.
"These beliefs cause a person to compulsively and almost obsessively, want to establish a secret nest egg," the memorandum said, citing this as a reason that Barouh concealed funds from U.S. tax authorities in overseas accounts.
According to a statement of facts that accompanied his guilty plea, Barouh admitted skimming income from his watch business into the UBS accounts, with the help of several unnamed Swiss money managers and lawyers.
Keeping money in overseas accounts is not illegal, but failing to report that to U.S. tax authorities is.
Barouh's case is one of a string of guilty pleas secured by the U.S. government from U.S. citizens after UBS last year settled a criminal probe for $780 million, admitting it helped Americans to hide money in offshore accounts.
To settle the criminal case, UBS gave the United States nearly 300 account names and prosecutors have been steadily bringing cases against them.
Under a separate civil agreement, UBS agreed to reveal 4,450 client accounts to Switzerland, which would eventually hand them over to the U.S. government.
But that process may be stalled after a Swiss Court stipulated earlier this year that a UBS client's failure to file a tax form does not constitute tax fraud.
UBS tax evader cites Holocaust "survival behavior"
By Pascal Fletcher – 55 mins ago
MIAMI (Reuters) – A Jewish Florida watchmaker who faces a possible jail term for filing a false tax return is arguing that "survival behavior" learned from the Holocaust influenced his attempt to hide funds from U.S. tax authorities in Swiss UBS bank accounts.
Jack Barouh, 65, who had owned and operated Michele Watches, a business he sold in 2004, is due to be sentenced on Friday in a Miami federal court. He is asking the court to sentence him to home detention, rather than jail.
Barouh pleaded guilty in February to filing a false tax return by failing to report his offshore bank accounts and not reporting income he received from his UBS accounts.
In his plea deal, Barouh admitted hiding about $10 million in foreign bank accounts he controlled, from 2002 to 2008, in Switzerland and Hong Kong, using the names of sham companies allegedly based in Panama, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands, among other places.
Prosecutors have recommended a reduced prison sentence of 20 months, while Barouh requested a one-year home detention sentence that would keep him out of jail. The maximum term he could face was three years in prison.
In seeking leniency, Barouh's lawyers cited a doctor's report arguing that "certain lessons and survival behavior learned and adopted by the Defendant's parents during the Holocaust and their escape from it" had contributed to his actions in maintaining the undeclared overseas bank accounts.
The report by Doctor Jerald Ratner, as cited in a memorandum submitted to the court, said Barouh, whose parents survived the killing of Jews in Europe by the Nazis during World War Two, had experienced discrimination and abuse for being Jewish as a child in Colombia.
"SECRET NEST EGG"
After moving to the United States, Barouh also experienced discrimination, verbal abuse and some mild physical abuse because of his Colombian accent and, at least initially, somewhat flawed English, the report added.
It said Barouh's actions were motivated by fears of possible persecution and sudden loss and by a "hide and hoard" behavior adopted by Holocaust survivors and their children.
"These beliefs cause a person to compulsively and almost obsessively, want to establish a secret nest egg," the memorandum said, citing this as a reason that Barouh concealed funds from U.S. tax authorities in overseas accounts.
According to a statement of facts that accompanied his guilty plea, Barouh admitted skimming income from his watch business into the UBS accounts, with the help of several unnamed Swiss money managers and lawyers.
Keeping money in overseas accounts is not illegal, but failing to report that to U.S. tax authorities is.
Barouh's case is one of a string of guilty pleas secured by the U.S. government from U.S. citizens after UBS last year settled a criminal probe for $780 million, admitting it helped Americans to hide money in offshore accounts.
To settle the criminal case, UBS gave the United States nearly 300 account names and prosecutors have been steadily bringing cases against them.
Under a separate civil agreement, UBS agreed to reveal 4,450 client accounts to Switzerland, which would eventually hand them over to the U.S. government.
But that process may be stalled after a Swiss Court stipulated earlier this year that a UBS client's failure to file a tax form does not constitute tax fraud.
