Edmund Seggerman to Plead Guilty in Tax Case, U.S. Says

Edmund Seggerman will plead guilty to hiding assets from tax authorities in a Swiss bank account, a U.S. prosecutor in Manhattan said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stanley Okula told a magistrate judge that Seggerman, who was charged today with conspiracy and filing false estate tax and income tax returns, will plead guilty this afternoon and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Seggerman is expected to testify against Michael Little, a U.K. citizen who is an attorney and financial adviser. Prosecutors claim Little worked with an unnamed Swiss lawyer to help U.S. citizens set up and maintain offshore bank accounts in Switzerland and elsewhere to hide assets from the Internal Revenue Service.

The government claims Seggerman’s father, a New York businessman who died in 2001, left a $24 million estate, more than half of which was held in undeclared foreign accounts. Two other children, Suzanne Seggerman and Yvonne Seggerman, have been charged in the case, according to court records.

Edmund Seggerman surrendered to authorities this morning, Okula said in court.

The case is U.S. v. Seggerman, 12-cr-216, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in New York at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net.