Wegelin & Co, the oldest Swiss private bank, pleaded guilty on Thursday to a criminal charge of conspiracy for helping wealthy Americans to evade taxes on at least $1.2 billion hidden in offshore bank accounts.
The plea came at a hearing before Judge Jed Rakoff in U.S. district court in Manhattan. Wegelin was the first foreign bank to be indicted by U.S. authorities in recent history. The indictment, announced last February, shook the storied world of Swiss banking.
"Wegelin was aware that this conduct was wrong," Otto Bruderer, a managing partner at Wegelin, said at the hearing.
