Are you one of the UBS clients who maybe used the firm to get around paying your some or all of your taxes? Have you been considering whether or not to come forward and admit it, not because of the shame (there's no shame in this! Except that you're lumped in the same category as Tim Geithner, which is a little hard to swallow), but because of the possible jail time? It turns out these sentences aren't so bad! They probably won't send you downtown and, if you get lucky like this guy, you'll get to play the slots at your leisure.
John McCarthy, a businessman from the wealthy seaside enclave of Malibu, also was placed on three years supervised probation on Monday and fined $25,000 for his guilty plea to a single felony count of failing to report a foreign bank account from 2003 through 2008.In addition to the fine, McCarthy was ordered to make restitution of more than $485,000 he owed to the government, which he already has paid, and to perform 300 hours of community service, which he can do while under home detention.
He had faced a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines.But Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank said she weighed in McCarthy's favor his cooperation with authorities, the fact that he had no prior criminal record and had otherwise "led a responsible, law-abiding life."
McCarthy must wear an electronic ankle bracelet to monitor his movements while under home confinement but may venture outside his home to pursue employment, go grocery shopping, and attend religious functions and any medical appointments for himself and his immediate family. The judge also said he may travel to Las Vegas to visit his father, subject to advance approval of his probation officer.
