MIAMI (Reuters) - A US judge declared fugitives on Thursday a former UBS AG banker and a Zurich lawyer charged with helping wealthy Americans hide assets from US tax authorities.

Hansruedi Schumacher and Matthias Rickenbach were indicted in August on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States by encouraging Americans to switch secret accounts from UBS to Neue Zuercher Bank (NZB), a private bank, in a bid to conceal wealth.

Schumacher, a manager who moved from UBS to NZB, and Rickenbach, the lawyer, never responded to the US charges, according to court files.