Sean And Nadia Roberts Admit They Hid Assets In Swiss Accounts

The owners of  The National Test Pilot School and Flight Research, both based at Mojave Airport (KMHV) in California, have pleaded guilty to income tax fraud in U.S. District Court in Fresno, CA. 

Sean and Nadia Roberts have operated what they say is the only civilian test pilot school in the world. They pleaded guilty to filing false income tax returns and defrauding the government of over $700,000 in taxes. Both now face up to three years in prison and fines totaling $2 million.

The National Test Pilot School is a non-profit school that trains test pilots. Most of the aircraft used by the school are owned by Flight Research. The Associated Press reports that the pair was discovered by a government investigation of UBS Bank in Switzerland. UBS admitted to helping some taxpayers in the U.S. hide accounts, and as part of their agreement turned over the names of some of their customers to the government. The Roberts were among the first 260 names handed over. Later, other UBS Bank clients were covered under a deferred settlement agreement, and those customers avoided criminal prosecution.

The Roberts pleaded to a single count of filing a false tax return. They were accused of transferring money to a number of offshore accounts, and then deducting those transfers on corporate and individual returns.

Sentencing is set for September 6th.

FMI: www.caed.uscourts.gov/caed/StaticOther/page_471.htm, www.ntps.edu