Montauk Restaurateur Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

A Montauk resident and well-known restaurateur pleaded guilty in Federal Court in Brooklyn Wednesday to charges stemming from an Internal Revenue Service investigation into two Swiss bank accounts he had concealed from the agency.

Georges Briguet, 77, a Swiss native and naturalized United States citizen, who owns Le Perigord in New York, deliberately concealed the existence of the two accounts, one with United Bank Suisse, and the other with Clariden Leu Ltd., a subsidiary of Credit Suisse AG, according to U.S. Department of Justice. According to a press release from the department, from 2001 to 2010, Mr. Briguet failed to report the accounts, which he opened with a deposit of 7 million Swiss francs in 1992. He also failed to pay taxes on the funds, the release said.

In addition, when the I.R.S. conducted a civil audit, he specifically denied having any foreign holdings or income, a claim he repeated to another agent during a criminal investigation.

Mr. Briguet has agreed to pay $169,935 in restitution to the agency. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Opened in 1964 on East 52nd Street, Le Perigord has adhered to strict French dining and service, with waiters in jackets and captains in tuxedos. Regulars, William Grimes of The New York Times wrote in a 2000 review of the restaurant, "swaddle themselves in a quietly civilized atmosphere, a million miles from the tumult of the city outside."