A US federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va, has indicted Felix Mathis, a Swiss attorney, with conspiring to defraud the US and structuring the importation of currency into this country.

The case, according to Reuters, concerned Mathis’ aid to a man who had an account with HSBC, although the US Department of Justice’s press release on the matter did not identify the bank in question. As previously reported by WealthBriefing and its sister publication, Family Wealth Report, the US authorities have targeted HSBC, having engaged in a high-profile legal tussle over tax evasion with Swiss wealth manager UBS last year.

In queries about the US authorities’ probe of HSBC, the bank has not commented to this publication on the matter.

If convicted, Mathis faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1.25 million, a statement issued by the US Department of Justice said yesterday.

According to court documents, in 1997, Dr Andrew Silva of Sterling, Va., inherited an undeclared bank account from his mother at the Zurich branch of one of the world's largest international banks. “The bank is headquartered in England and also has offices in Zurich, Geneva and the Eastern District of Virginia”, the statement said.

Silva pleaded guilty on 16 February this year to conspiracy to defraud the United States and to making a false statement, the DOJ said.

Continuing its outline of the case, the statement said that the undeclared bank account was “held in the name of a sham Liechtenstein trust”

“In 1999, Silva met with Mathis who managed the account in Zurich. Mathis instructed Silva to keep the account "hush," to not keep any records relating to the account, and to send coded letters to him if he wished to meet. Further, Mathis advised Silva that if he transported or mailed less than $10,000 in US currency back to the United States, he would not have to declare the funds to the US government upon re-entry to the United States,” the statement said.

“According to court documents, in September 2009, Silva was informed that the international bank was closing his undeclared Swiss account and that he had until the end of the year to travel to Switzerland to withdraw all funds. Silva made two trips to Zurich in October and November 2009 and met with Mathis at his office and a Swiss banker at the private wealth office of the international bank. Mathis and the Swiss banker refused to wire the money to the United States as it would leave a trail for US law enforcement. Instead, they provided him with $235,000 in US currency. Of that total, Silva received $200,000 in two individually wrapped "bricks" of $100,000 of sequentially numbered, new $100 bills," it said.

According to court documents, with the assistance of Mathis, Silva mailed 26 packages containing over $200,000 in US currency from Switzerland to the US to himself and another person, the DOJ statement continued..

As part of his plea agreement, Silva agreed to forfeit to the government $211,200 in US currency that law enforcement officials seized from packages that he mailed from Switzerland to his residence in Sterling, Va. Earlier in June, a court sentenced the man to two years of probation, including four months of home detention and a $20,000 fine, the statement added.