Region in brief: Bellevue man hid accounts

SEATTLE – A Bellevue, Wash., man is the latest of about half a dozen people nationwide to accept plea agreements in an investigation of Swiss banking giant UBS.

Roberto Cittadini, a retired Boeing Co. sales manager, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to filing a false tax return.

Cittadini admitted concealing nearly $2 million in Swiss bank accounts on which he failed to report income. He faces up to three years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a civil penalty based on his highest account balance between 2001 and 2007.

Jobless rates rise in North Idaho

Unemployment in Idaho crept down in September, but most North Idaho counties continued to lose jobs, according to the state’s Department of Labor.

The statewide unemployment rate fell to 8.8 percent, down from 8.9 percent in August, in large part because the labor force decreased by 2,500. The number of job holders fell 1,300 to 685,057, the lowest level since February 2005.

In North Idaho, unemployment in Kootenai County rose to 10.4 percent from 10.1 percent in August as 1,200 workers lost their jobs.

Benewah County’s rate rose to 15.9 percent from 15.3 percent, Bonner County’s to 11.3 percent from 10.7 percent, and Boundary County’s to 13.9 percent from 12.7 percent.

Shoshone County showed modest improvement, with the rate falling to 14 percent from 14.5 percent.

The statewide unemployment rate in September 2008 was 5.4 percent.

‘Breaking’ trades rules approved

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have approved new rules for stock exchanges for nullifying erroneous trades deemed wildly out of sync with current prices.

The new rules allow an exchange to consider canceling, or “breaking,” a stock trade only if the price in question exceeds the preceding sale price by more than a certain amount.

Those thresholds are: 10 percent for stocks under $25 a share; 5 percent for those between $25 and $50; and 3 percent for those more than $50.