Wegelin & Co was yesterday told to pay US authorities almost $58 million after the venerable Swiss private bank pleaded guilty to helping US taxpayers hide more than $1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Service, Bloomberg reported.

The misconduct of the Swiss bank, which is said to be the country’s oldest, continued until 2011.

Wegelin & Co said in a statement on 3 January that it had entered into a plea agreement with US prosecutors to "resolve charges that it helped US taxpayers to evade taxes on undeclared income held in accounts at the bank. Wegelin & Co said it has, since investigations began, cooperated with US authorities "within the bounds" of Swiss law, referring to the Alpine state's historic bank secrecy protection.

It reiterated in a statement in German today that the affair brought an end to an institution dating back to 1741. It said it does not intend to comment further on the matter. Non-US operations of the firm have been transferred to Switzerland's Raiffeisen Group.

Wegelin and Co last year became the first Swiss lender indicted in a crackdown on offshore firms accused of helping tax evaders.

US District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan approved the sentence, which Wegelin had agreed to with prosecutors, after crediting the bank with showing up to plead guilty rather than fighting his court’s jurisdiction, the report said.

The bank reportedly had said it believed it would be shielded from prosecution in the US because of Swiss banking secrecy laws and the fact it had no offices in the US.

“To me, what justifies this deal - which is what it is - is the practical reality that it would have been difficult for the government to have obtained jurisdiction over the bank,” Rakoff reportedly said at the court hearing. “Some credit has to be given to the bank for coming forward in those circumstances,” he said.

The fine, restitution and forfeiture ordered yesterday, in addition to $16.3 million seized by the US from Wegelin’s correspondent bank account last year, totals a $74 million recovery for the US government.

Rakoff also put the bank on probation for a month to ensure it makes the ordered payments.