Igor Olenicoff Sues UBS for Fraud and Other Claims

Billionaire Igor Olenicoff claims that the bank is to blame for his failure to declare $200 million offshore dollars on his U.S. tax return. Olenicoff served a two-year probation and paid $52 million in taxes, fines, and penalties when he admitted to the IRS that he did not report his offshore accounts for the past seven years.

In 2008, Olenicoff sued the largest Swiss bank, UBS, for damages up to $1.7 million. He is claiming that UBS traded excessively in his accounts, and committed fraud because they did not tell him he owed U.S. taxes. Olenicoff claims that UBS aggressively sought him out promising that he would not have to report his Swiss income to the U.S. The bank also withheld mail and tax information from him regarding tax information.

An outside Houston attorney says that if UBS misrepresented tax information and Olenicoff reasonably relied on those representations, he may have a case.

UBS points out that Olenicoff lied to the IRS “for at least three years before he met UBS.” Also, Olenicoff knew by November 2004 that his accounts were potentially criminal. If the lawsuit goes to trial, it is scheduled for May 8.

See David Voreacos, UBS Faces Billionaire Olenicoff in Lawsuit Over His Tax Felony, Bloomberg News, Apr. 9, 2012.

Special thanks to Jim Hillhouse (Professional Legal Marketing (PLM, Inc.)) for bringing this article to my attention.