Miami-Dade, FL – Jack Barouh, a former watchmaker who pleaded guilty to hiding $6 million through a UBS AG account, was sentenced to 10 months in prison by a judge who credited his cooperation with prosecutors probing offshore tax evasion.
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Barouh, 65, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan in Miami. He admitted in February that he skimmed money from his company and didn’t report income on $10 million in assets, including $6 million in offshore accounts at UBS.
His lawyer asked for a sentence of a year’s home detention, saying in court papers Barouh is the son of Holocaust survivors who taught him to “hide and hoard” and compulsively “want to establish a secret nest egg.” Prosecutors today asked for a 15- month prison term.
Barouh, of Golden Beach, Florida, former owner of Tempus International Corp., is among 11 UBS clients who pleaded guilty to tax crimes since the Zurich-based bank agreed in February 2009 to pay $780 million to avoid prosecution for helping wealthy Americans evade taxes.
Barouh sold his company in 2004 to Fossil Inc. for about $50 million.
He set up so-called nominee accounts through Hong Kong, British Virgin Island and Panamanian companies, including one named Domilou SA, according to court papers. He also had accounts at banks other than UBS and began skimming money from his watch businesses in 1976 and putting the proceeds in his Domilou account, he admitted in pleading guilty.
Money Managers’ Help
Two Swiss money managers helped Barouh manage the offshore accounts, according to court papers. One, identified as Swiss money manager No. 1, misappropriated more than $5 million from the Domilou account, he admitted.
A Swiss lawyer, identified as Swiss attorney No. 1, negotiated a settlement with the first money manager. The lawyer used that settlement, as well as funds from Domilou, to set up a British Virgin Island corporation called Similen Investments Ltd. for Barouh, according to court papers.
The attorney and Swiss money manager No. 2 were directors of the company, according to court papers.
Starting in 2007, Barouh considered repatriating his accounts to the U.S., according to court papers. The unidentified Swiss attorney instead persuaded him to transfer his assets to a Hong Kong nominee company named Amery Investments Ltd.
Is there no shame? You continue to milk the Holocaust decades after it ended for your own gain and sympathy….I hope he gets an extra 10 years just for GAUL.
Don’t shame the holocaust survivors as a ploy. He could have nest eggs and still pay the taxes.
While I sympathize with the spirit of the defense, my grandmother would never et her US passport lapse as it saved her life in Europe. This guy thought UBS would be a safe place after they stole tremendous amounts of Jewish money during the shoah and then fought to not have to repay it. Sounds like chilul hashem to me.
As a child of survivors I agree with all the hoarding issues and more.
The refrigerator full of food, to excess.
The fear of even a sanitation officer.
My frum Father removing his hat and yarmulke at any border.
My paremts verifying accounts, as if they could simply disapear by decree as happened to them in Austria
Yes, this left scars which definately could lead to behavior as described.
I too am a child of Holocaust survivors and can relate to some of the comments posted here. However, the excuse is an awful one. It only adds fuel to those who mock the Holocaust and argue that we use it as an excuse for anything and everything. By using this excuse, Jack Barouh once again places his personal interests above those of anyone else including other Holocaust survivors and their children who must deal with the fallout from the publication of this excuse. Pathetic.
give him an extra few years so he can learn.
There is nothing illegal about having a Swiss account. It is illegal to hide your money from the IRS. If his claim was really true, he should have declared the money that he deposited in the Swiss account. Then his money would be protected without committing a crime.
REply to # 3. I am afraid you don’t know what you are talking about .Your Parents were probably hoarders knickers even before the war . There is no such thing as Holocaust Survivor mentality or Syndrome . Just as in the general population , there are normal and abnormal behaviour .BTW, I am a HS .
Reply to # 18. You are forgiven . However, you are wrong on both counts .
NO. 18. You are confusing Law -breakers with Holocaust Survivors .Your assumption is incorrect .
REply to # 18 .Your assumption that a Holocaust Survivor is not capable to browse the Internet is presumptuous at the least .
Re; to No. 3. Somehow, your description of your Parents behaviour is not quite believable .You have a very lively imagination – Syndrome .
Reply to No. 30 . You, are not only ignorant you are also arrogant .Why ,is 85 the cut -off age ? After spending time in Auschwitz, Warszaw and Dachau I was liberated in 1945 .I was 15 years (old) .If Hashem will grant me another 3 years,I will have met your hypothetical criteria for Cyber -litiracy .Or, perhaps , then I will be as senile as you are ,now . Finis.
P.S. I can’t believe I said that .
No. 30. What is wrong with you ? I am a HS survivor, been in KZ , 87 years old,spend 5-6 hours on the internet ,daily .Know ,wherefore you speak .
I wrote #30 .
My parents are not online, obviously others are at this age.
#31, I am glad that you are BH a survivor and have the strength to be so nasty online. Not only did you say it but you then pressed the post button!
Perhaps I was off in age a bit, BH some but not many survived to be liberated at 15. Most were older.
Reply To # 33. Please , accept my heartfelt apology .I got carried away .Perhaps, I wanted to defend the ( honor) of us ,old HS . I hope ,you wont let this episode color your opinion of the Holocaust Survivors in general .I wish You and your Parents much Hatzlacha .
No. 15. Our Sages said : B’nfoil oivechu al tismuch .