Billionaire energy drink mogul hid hordes of cash in Swiss bank accounts, senator's letter alleges
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- Billionaire Manoj Bhargava has been accused of hiding hundreds of millions of dollars overseas.
- US Senator Ron Wyden is investigating Swiss bank Pictet, alleging it helped US citizens evade taxes.
- The Senate Finance Committee said the case could lead to the largest penalty over illegal offshore banking in US history.
The billionaire entrepreneur behind 5-Hour Energy drinks, Manoj Bhargava, has been accused of hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in undeclared offshore bank accounts, Business Insider has learned.
US Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, announced on Thursday that he's launching an investigation into Geneva-based bank Pictet as part of an ongoing committee probe into foreign banks.
In a letter to Pictet, Wyden accused the Swiss bank of conspiring to help ultra-high-net-worth Americans evade taxes.
And Wyden's letter alleges that one particular "billionaire" illegally hid at least hundreds of millions of dollars through Pictet over the course of his 15-year relationship with the bank.
Though the letter only identifies the billionaire as "Person 1," a source with knowledge of the investigation confirmed to BI that "Person 1" is, in fact, referencing Bhargava, a US citizen.
Representatives for Bhargava did not return a request for comment from BI.
CNBC first reported on the link to Bhargava.
In a press release, the committee said it reviewed bank records "documenting highly suspicious transfers between Pictet accounts."
Specifically, Wyden's letter alleges those records show that a Pictet bank account tied Person 1 — Bhargava — got a $255 million deposit in 2013. By the end of the year, all of that money was withdrawn, zeroing out the account, the letter alleges.
Wyden's letter alleges that Person 1, Bhargava, had transferred all $255 million to a Pictet account of a Bahamian entity owned by a longtime friend and non-US citizen, identified only as "Person 2."
But that second Bahamian account was actually controlled by Person 1, Wyden alleges.
In effect, Wyden alleges that Bhargava was using Pictet accounts to funnel money through Person 2 using entities that Person 2 owned but that Bhargava controlled linked to places like the Bahamas and Mauritius.
US citizens are required to report foreign bank accounts that contain more than $10,000 in an annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
If Pictet and Bhargava are found to have concealed $255 million, it would result in "one of the largest FBAR penalties in US history, if not the largest," the committee said in its press release.