Two individuals have been charged by the Manhattan US Attorney in the US government’s crackdown on finance professionals assisting US citizens to evade taxes via offshore accounts.

Edgar Paltzer, 56, who was a partner at a Swiss law firm and a registered attorney in New York State, and Stefan Buck, 32, formerly head of private banking at Bank Frey, face one count each of conspiring with US taxpayers and others to hide millions of dollars in offshore accounts and evade US taxes on income earned.

According to the indictment, Paltzer began practicing at the Swiss law firm (which is unnamed) in 1998 in the fields of international private client work, wealth transfer planning, succession, trusts and foundations. He went on to become a partner.

Buck, meanwhile, began working at what is referred to in the indictment as “Swiss Bank No 1” in 2007 as a client advisor and went on to become head of private banking and a member of a three-person executive committee.

Zurich-based Bank Frey & Co has since released a statement saying that Buck has been suspended from all such duties so that he can focus on defending himself against the charge.

“This step is by no means to be misconstrued as a sign that Bank Frey considers Stefan Buck to be guilty of the accusations made against him. Bank Frey supports Stefan Buck in the legal proceedings and emphasizes that he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty,” it said in a statement.

The statement from the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York says that the Swiss bank benefitted from increased US clients and assets in the wake of the affairs involving UBS and Wegelin & Co. This refers to UBS’s deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department in 2009, and Wegelin’s indictment last year for conspiring with US taxpayers to evade taxes, to which it ultimately pled guilty.

“Between March 2009 and February 2012, Swiss Bank No 1 experienced an increase of approximately 300 per cent in clients who were US taxpayers,” it said. As of September 30, 2012, around 44 per cent of the bank’s assets under management, or $938 million, was held on behalf of US taxpayers living in the US, it said.

“Paltzer and Buck conspired with various US taxpayers and others to ensure that their clients could hide their Swiss bank accounts and the income generated in these accounts from the IRS,” the Manhattan US Attorney’s statement said.

“Paltzer and Buck helped US taxpayers open undeclared accounts at Swiss Bank No 1 after these US taxpayers had been informed by other Swiss banks that they had to close their undeclared accounts,” it continued.

The statement also says the pair advised clients to repatriate funds in ways that would go undetected by the US authorities, and used false arguments to persuade one client not to enter into a voluntary disclosure program.

The charge that each man faces carries a potential prison sentence of five years, with a maximum term of three years of supervised release, and a fine of the greatest of $250,000, or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense or twice the gross pecuniary loss to the victims.

Paltzer is a dual US-Swiss citizen while Buck is a Swiss citizen; both live in Switzerland and neither man has been arrested.