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# Los Angeles man pleads guilty in foreign bank scheme
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/los-angeles-man-pleads-guilty-in-foreign-bank-scheme/
- Published: 2018-08-21T12:00:56.000Z
- Updated: 2024-12-04T14:05:54.000Z
- Author: Associated Press
- Tags: Community, ap, briefs, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-06 12:50

A Los Angeles man accused of hiding more than $1 million in foreign bank accounts has pleaded guilty to federal charges.

Ben Zion Birman entered a plea Monday to willfully failing to file reports disclosing his offshore accounts.

Prosecutors say Birman secreted the money in Bank Leumi, based in Israel, and accessed it through loans designed to conceal the foreign accounts.

He could face up to five years in prison.

In 2014, Bank Leumi acknowledged that for at least a decade, it had conspired to help U.S. taxpayers hide their income. The bank paid the U.S. government $270 million.

Associated Press