Montauk Resident Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion Charges

A Montauk resident pleaded guilty on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York to tax evasion charges from an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to court documents and statements, Georges Briguet, 77, a naturalized U.S. citizen, had Swiss financial accounts at UBS AG and at Clariden Leu Ltd., which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Credit Suisse AG.

He opened the UBS account in Switzerland in or around 1992, with approximately 7 million Swiss francs, according to the release.

In 2008, he transferred the UBS funds to a numbered account at Clariden Leu in Switzerland, which he maintained until at least 2011, according to the Department of Justice.

From 2001 through 2010, Briguet filed false federal income tax returns on which he failed to report his foreign financial accounts, failed to report any income earned thereon and failed to pay any taxes on such foreign income, according to the Department of Justice.

In addition, Briguet was interviewed by an IRS revenue agent who was conducting a civil audit, during which he falsely stated that he had no foreign income and no foreign financial accounts, according to the release.

He then later repeated those false statements to an IRS special agent who interviewed Briguet as part of a criminal investigation.

At sentencing, Briguet faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

As part of his plea agreement, Briguet has agreed to pay the IRS restitution in the amount of $169,935.

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