Prosecutors focus on Swiss bank accounts

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- Criminal tax lawyers say a growing number of U.S. clients with secret Swiss bank accounts want to come clean with the IRS to avoid prosecution.

"They're coming in from the cold. They're nervous," said Edward M. Robbins Jr., a criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor in Beverly Hills, Calif.

The U.S. government plans to prosecute Americans for evading taxes on income generated through foreign accounts they failed to disclose on their tax returns, Robbins said.

Swiss banks, by law, cannot disclose account holder information, but increasing pressure from the United States and members of the European Union is forcing Swiss banks to reconsider excessive secrecy, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

Dozens of wealthy Americans began contacting criminal tax lawyers after Bradley Birkenfeld, formerly employed by Swiss bank UBS, pleaded guilty last year to helping Igor M. Olenicoff, a California billionaire, conceal $200 million, said a U.S. Senate report.

The report estimated off-shore tax havens cost the United States about $100 billion annually.