FORT MYERS, Florida (CMC) – The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) says a medical doctor has been convicted of federal tax crimes in the Caribbean.

Dr Patricia Lynn Hough, of Englewood, Florida was convicted on Thursday for conspiring to defraud the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The DOJ reported that  Hough concealed millions of dollars in assets and income in offshore bank accounts at UBS and other foreign banks and filed false individual income tax returns, “which failed to report the existence of those foreign accounts or the income earned in those accounts.”

According to court documents, Hough owned two Caribbean-based medical schools – The Saba University School of Medicine located in Saba, Netherlands Antilles, and The Medical University of the Americas in Nevis.

The documents state that Hough “conspired to defraud the IRS with her husband, Dr David Fredrick, who is awaiting trial.

Both schools and associated real estate were sold on April 3, 2007, for more than US$35 million, “all of which was deposited into undeclared accounts in the name of the nominee entities.”

“The majority of the sale proceeds were not reported to the IRS on their tax returns and no tax was paid,” the statement said.

The DOJ said evidence proved that Hough and her co-conspirator used emails, telephone calls and in-person meetings to “instruct Swiss bankers and asset managers to make investments and transfer funds from their undeclared accounts at UBS.

US District Judge John Steele has scheduled sentencing for February 10, 2014.

The DOJ said the conspiracy count carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine. The false return counts each carry a maximum potential penalty of three years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.