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

On January 28, 2010, the Washington Post announced that the Swiss government has suspended the disclosure of information about tax cheats to the United States under a February 2009 “deferred prosecution” agreement and may seek to renegotiate the deal.  Under the agreement the Swiss government was supposed to provide the U.S. with 4,450 accounts of the 52,000 secret accounts not declared to the IRS.

Basically, this means that 14,700 people walked away without prosecution under the IRS amnesty program, the head of entire illegal UBS program Martin Liechti was allowed to return to Switzerland without prosecution, the 4,450 tax cheats are likely to escape prosecution, and Bradley Birkenfeld (the person responsible for blowing the whistle and ending the illegal UBS program) is still the only banker sitting in prison.

When will the U.S. government wake up?  Bradley Birkenfeld’s prison sentence is not only unjust in terms of how they treated every other person associated with the UBS scandal, it is permanently harming national and international efforts to fight corruption.  Once again, what whistleblower is going to want to come forward after seeing how Mr. Birkenfeld was treated?

Please TAKE ACTION to stop this injustice now!

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I have received calls and emails asking why the NWC supports UBS whistleblower Brad Birkenfeld.  This article published on Forbes.com helps answer that question.  Mr. Birkenfeld, like countless other employees, blew the whistle because he believed it was the right thing to do.  When Mr. Birkenfeld’s multiple efforts to correct the problem internally failed, he resigned.  However, Mr. Birkenfeld did not stop there. He voluntarily approached the federal government to report the UBS tax fraud scheme. Some of the steps he took occurred before the IRS passed its whistleblower reward programs.  Unfortunately, instead of protecting Mr. Birkenfeld, the Department of Justice (DOJ) chose to prosecute him.  Mr. Birkenfeld will be starting a 40-month sentence on January 8, 2010.  The precedent set by the DOJ treatment of Mr. Birkenfeld has sent a chilling message to future whistleblowers. Please take a minute to read “Whistleblowing: A Get-Rich-Quick Scheme?” and then TAKE ACTION by demanding that Attorney General Holder immediately and independently review Mr. Birkenfeld’s case.

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Today the National Whistleblowers Center (NWC), the Government Accountability Project (GAP) and the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) urged U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to review the case of Bradley Birkenfeld, the international banker who blew the whistle on secret offshore accounts at UBS Bank in Switzerland. On August 21, Mr. Birkenfeld was sentenced to 3 years and 4 months in prison for his actions, despite the fact that UBS's tax fraud scheme never would have been discovered without Mr. Birkenfeld's disclosure.

The letter calls on the Department of Justice to reconsider Mr. Birkenfeld's case and "take action to prevent one of the worst setbacks in international law enforcement history."

Whistleblowers who open the door on offshore accounts are not only exposing tax evasion but also the criminals involved in human trafficking,terrorism, drugs and bribery.  The Department of Justice needs to immediately review the negative ramifications of prosecuting individuals who blow the whistle on secret banking.

You can TAKE ACTION by sending your own letter to Attorney General Holder.  

You can read the full letter by clicking here.

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A reporter from World Radio Switzerland recently interviewed Stephen Kohn on Bradley Birkenfeld, the Swiss banker who blew the whistle on secret offshore accounts. Mr. Kohn, Executive Director of the National Whistleblowers Center, recently became Mr. Birkenfeld’s lawyer, and is urging the U.S government to review the case. Although he exposed billions of dollars in tax fraud, Mr. Birkenfeld was sentenced to over 3 years in prison in August.

Mr. Birkenfeld is entitled to 15-30% of the money accrued under the IRS tax whistleblower provision, yet he is being punished in exchange for the valuable information he handed over. Punishing Mr. Birkenfeld does a disservice to national and international anti-corruption efforts and discourages other international bankers from coming forward and blowing the whistle.
 
You can find the entire interview with Stephen Kohn by clicking here.

*Erin Jensen (a NWC intern) contributed to this posting. 

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