Retired Strawberry Banker Pleads Guilty to Failing to Report Swiss Accounts

A former Swiss banker who lives in Strawberry faces up to five years in jail after pleading guilty to failing to report his Swiss bank accounts for 13 years and thus evading U.S. taxes, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Pius Kampfen, who worked in San Francisco for Switzerland's Julius Baer Bank for 40 years, maintained bank accounts at a number of Swiss-based banks for years after he retired in 2001 under the name Albia Investments, according to the DOJ. The agency said Kampfen "failed to report any of the Albia accounts on his income tax returns or file required reports of foreign bank accounts for the accounts despite the fact that he knew he was required to do so."

As part of a plea deal, Kampfen agreed to pay a $1,465,393 fine before he is sentenced in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The sentencing is set to occur Oct. 4. Kampfen faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.