U.S. accountant pleads guilty in UBS tax case

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida -- A wealthy accountant who is the first U.S. citizen charged in a wide-ranging tax probe of Swiss banking giant UBS AG has pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return.

The U.S. attorney's office announced Thursday that Steven Michael Rubinstein pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return in 2004.

The Internal Revenue Service claims Rubinstein failed to report UBS income on his returns from 2001 to 2007. As part of his plea agreement, Rubinstein agreed to pay a 50% penalty for the year with the highest balance in the account as of June 30. That was 2004.

A message left at the office of his attorney, Robert Panoff, was not immediately returned.

Rubinstein is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 30. He faces a maximum three years in prison.