Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Robert Moran, a Florida yacht broker who pleaded guilty to hiding $3.4 million in assets at UBS AG, was sentenced today to two months in prison after cooperating with prosecutors investigating offshore tax evasion.

Moran, 58, must serve one year of probation after jail, including 150 days of house arrest with electronic monitoring. The judge didn’t fine Moran, who paid a $1.89 million civil penalty. Moran was the first of six UBS clients to plead guilty this year, admitting April 14 he filed a false tax return.

“I think the public has become weary about people with all the trappings of success becoming involved in tax evasion,” said U.S. District Judge James Cohn in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “Why does one set up offshore banking accounts? I’m sorry, it’s to set up to hide money and deceive the government.”

Prosecutors sought leniency for Moran, saying he gave “substantial” help to a probe of taxpayers who used secret offshore bank accounts to evade taxes. Publicity about Moran’s case helped spur more than 7,500 taxpayers to avoid prosecution by voluntarily disclosing their accounts to the Internal Revenue Service, the Justice Department said in court papers.

Disclosed Names

Moran, who tried to disclose his account to the IRS on March 17, couldn’t avoid prosecution because the agency already knew of his account, his lawyers said in court papers. UBS, the largest Swiss bank, disclosed more than 250 names to the IRS, including Moran’s, under a Feb. 18 agreement to avoid prosecution for aiding tax evasion. UBS agreed in August to disclose another 4,450 names.

“I am really very sorry for opening this account and not reporting it,” said Moran, a married father of four, at the hearing. “I apologize to my family and my friends for causing lots of pain and unhappiness.”

Moran, a resident of Lighthouse Point, Florida, had faced as many as three years in prison. He owns Moran Yacht & Ship Inc., which has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Moscow. His business buys and sells new and used yachts and arranges charters and leasing, court papers show.

A native of England and one of seven children, he is now a U.S. citizen who employs three of his siblings. As a result of his felony conviction, he will lose his Florida license to sell new yachts, according to his lawyer, Gary Bagliebter.

Panamanian Corporation

In pleading guilty, Moran admitted he filed a 2007 tax return that didn’t report his UBS account, which was set up in October 2000. Moran was the beneficial owner of the account, which was established in the name of Winter Drive Investments SA, a Panamanian corporation.

Moran owed less than $26,000 in taxes due from 2001 to 2007, according to the judge. He also agreed to pay back taxes, interest and penalties, including $1.8 million for failing to file an annual disclosure called a Report of Foreign Bank or Financial Accounts, or FBAR, on the Winter Drive account.

On Oct. 30, Judge Cohn sentenced New York toy salesman Jeffrey Chernick to three months in prison for failing to report $8 million in assets at UBS. Chernick also must serve six months of house arrest with electronic monitoring followed by six months of probation after leaving jail.

On Oct. 28, a federal judge in Miami sentenced another UBS client, Steven Michael Rubinstein, to three years’ probation, including one year of house arrest, and fined him $40,000.

The case is United States of America v. Robert Moran, 09- cr-60089, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Fort Lauderdale).

To contact the reporters on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net; Mort Lucoff in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, at morsybil@bellsouth.net; Carlyn Kolker in New York at ckolker@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 12:52 EST