A Swiss private banker working for Wegelin & Co, the Swiss private bank, was questioned in the US about attempted money laundering in October 2010.

The client advisor for the firm was “lured into a trap” by the FBI in October of last year in Miami when he was on his way to the Bahamas, a spokesperson reportedly told SonntagsZeitung, a Swiss publication.

The banker admitted the attempted laundering to the investigators and was allowed to leave the country at the end of October.

The bank immediately dismissed him following the incident. Wegelin “regretted” the case, said the spokesperson, and the firm is looking into it with the Swiss regulator, FINMA.

In 2009 the Swiss bank ceased to invest directly in US securities for its clients, in response to tougher US regulatory requirements intended in part to curb tax evasion. It based its decision on the stricter oversight of foreign banks and planned changes to estate taxes. A spokesperson for Wegelin stressed to Family Wealth Report that the case is not connected to any tax issues.