Indian-American pleads guilty to hiding Indian bank accounts

An Indian-American businessman has pleaded guilty to conspiring with five HSBC bankers to keep his Indian accounts “below the radar” to evade taxes in the United States.

An Indian-American businessman has pleaded guilty to conspiring with five HSBC bankers to keep his Indian accounts “below the radar” to evade taxes in the United States.

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Vaibhav Dahake, 44, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, on Monday to one count of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Dahake, who became a naturalised US citizen in 2006, faces up to five years in prison, but a plea deal outlines a federal prison sentence ranging from 10 to 18 months, restitution and other penalties. The judge will have the final say at sentencing, scheduled for July 22.

Dahake said from 2001 through 2010 he maintained undeclared bank accounts in India that he failed to report. After receiving an unsolicited letter in 2001 that advertised bank accounts in India that paid hefty interest, he met with a banker in New York. IANS