Thursday August 20, 11:40 PM

U.S. charges two in Swiss banking tax evasion scheme

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Thursday indicted a Swiss banker who used to work at UBS AG and a Swiss lawyer with aiding wealthy Americans hide their assets from U.S. tax authorities.

Hansruedi Schumacher worked at UBS from the late 1990s through mid-2002 before moving to Neue Zuercher Bank where he worked through at least July 2009 and worked with American clients seeking to conceal their wealth, the U.S. Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service said.

Also charged was a lawyer in Switzerland, Matthias Rickenbach, for helping in the scheme to conceal assets and income in Switzerland from U.S. authorities, the agencies said.