Whistleblower Protection Blog : Whistleblower Lawyer & Attorney : National Whistleblower Legal Defense and Education Fund : Whistleblower Protection, Fraud Claims : Washington DC

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Today, Bradley Birkenfeld, the whistleblower who exposed the $20 billion illegal UBS tax fraud scheme, submitted a direct appeal to President Barack Obama and filed an official petition requesting clemency. Mr. Birkenfeld blew the whistle on a $20 billion program run by UBS designed to recruit wealthy Americans and assist them in evading U.S. taxes.

The clemency petition was submitted on April 15^th, the deadline for Americans to file their taxes, because the information Mr. Birkenfeld provided has led to the recovery of billions of tax dollars by the IRS.

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Attorneys for Bradley Birkenfeld, the Swiss banker who exposed the massive ($20 billion) tax evasion scandal at UBS, Stephen M. Kohn and  Dean Zerbe wrote an op-ed piece entitled “April 15 Plea: Pardon Tax Whistleblower” published on Forbes.com. Mr. Kohn and Mr. Zerbe criticize the Department of Justice decision to prosecute Mr. Birkenfeld and list the negative consequences of putting the whistleblower in jail, including the radical chilling effect that discourages other potential whistleblowers from coming forward, a major step backwards in the fight against corruption and billions of dollars in tax revenue lost.

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Washington, D.C. April 14, 2010. Former UBS banker Bradley Birkenfeld , who is currently serving a 40-month sentence for one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States at Schuylkill County federal prison, will file a formal request for clemency to President Barack Obama on Tax Day, April 15, 2010.

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UBS bank whistleblower Bradley Birkenfeld spoke with the Wall Street Journal's Arden Dale in a story released Friday. The WSJ story, "UBS Whistle-Blower Rues the Tack, Not Tune," appears on page C-2 of today's Money and Investing section. Birkenfeld says that he would still want to expose the way UBS helped thousands of millionaires evade their taxes, but he would do it differently.  The interview is a lesson for how other tax whistleblowers might want to proceed in the future. The article recognizes that Birkenfeld was "the central informant in an investigation that led to a wide-ranging IRS crackdown on secret offshore bank accounts." He is also the only figure in the case sentenced to substantial prison time, 40 months. Birkenfeld attorney, Stephen M. Kohn (who is also Executive Director of the National Whistleblower Center), explained to Dale how going to the Department of Justice was a mistake. One of their jobs, after all, is to put people in jail. Kohn says that tax whistleblowers should instead consider going to the whistleblower office of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). That office would be more focused on using the whistleblower's information to collect taxes.  It is also the office that will decide on financial rewards for whistleblowers.  Federal officials declined to talk to Dale for this story.

Meanwhile, Reuters is running a story called, "Special Report: How the U.S. cracked open secret vaults at UBS." A U.S. government attorney involved in the case did speak to Reuters, and their story barely mentions Birkenfeld, and then only to mention his participation in UBS' crimes before he decided to cooperate with U.S. authorities. The Reuters story misses how Birkenfeld asked the Department of Justice to issue a subpoena to him to allow him to name all the names. That's why we bought the Wall Street Journal on Friday.

Want to take action to support Brad Birkenfeld?  Follow this link.

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Today, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued an extremely misleading press release on the departments “successes” in tax enforcement. However, as NWC Executive Director, Stephen M. Kohn responded, the “DOJ spends much ink describing the importance of the UBS case without finding the space to add two more words - the name of the whistleblower who made it all possible - Bradley Birkenfeld.”

Instead, the DOJ has the audacity to trumpet their efforts to prosecute the whistleblower, Bradley Birkenfeld. Even more amazing is the fact that while they applaud themselves for throwing the whistleblower in prison, they neglect to tell the American taxpayers that they allowed the architect of the entire UBS illegal offshore tax fraud program, Martin Liechti, to return to the safety of Switzerland without prosecution. 

For more on the NWC’s response to the DOJ’s refusal to recognize that their “treatment of Mr. Birkenfeld is not only a generational setback for tax whistleblowers, it will cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars” please click here.

To TAKE ACTION in support of Mr. Birkenfeld's clemency campaign please click here.

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An article written by Bradley Birkenfeld appears in the Spring 2010 issue of the World Policy Journal, released by the World Policy Institute.  The “Crime + Corruption” issue examines how corruption occurs, its effect on society, and how to stop it. Birkenfeld’s article, “Inside the Cartel,” is displayed in the “Upfront” section of the journal, which gives readers first-hand insight into corruption schemes across the globe.

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