Posted Apr 15, 2010 2:16 PM CDT
By Martha Neil

In a move apparently timed to coincide with the annual Internal Revenue Service tax return filing deadline, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced that criminal charges are being pursued against seven more former clients of UBS AG by federal authorities in New York.

Nine other individuals were convicted earlier of tax crimes related to their accounts at the Swiss bank, Bloomberg reports.

“We’re sending the message that the rich are not different, the rich are not special,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara tells the news agency. “Multimillionaires with Swiss accounts have to pay their taxes like everyone else.”